HOLIDAY Inn Express will come to Grimsby, should new plans for an 80-bedroom hotel in Wellowgate be approved.
It is hoped the national hotel chain could be up and running as soon as next year, creating about 40 new jobs – recruitment for which will start in the coming months.
The announcement came as a decision on the £8-million plans for an 80-bedroom Premier Inn hotel at Meridian Park Development Site, Cleethorpes, was due to be made.
However, a spokesman for North East Lincolnshire Council said the chain had asked for additional time to review information relating to that.
As reported, is hoped this development, which will include a Brewers Fayre restaurant, will create 70 new jobs if given the go-ahead.
However, objections have been received from bed and breakfast owners, who fear it will take their trade.
A decision is now expected to be made by the authority's planning committee at the end of July.
Skegness-based Manorcrest Homes had successfully applied for permission for an 80-room hotel on the Wellowgate site, adjoining Grimsby railway station, in September 2008.
However, the firm – which had originally hoped to build apartments on the former Burton's Fiat dealership plot, currently a car park – has now teamed up with Brayford Hotels to revise its plans and submitted a fresh application to North East Lincolnshire Council.
If given the go-ahead, the redesigned and slightly smaller hotel will be run under franchise as a Holiday Inn Express.
Director of Brayford Hotels, Leigh Hall, said: "On reflection, and with the benefit of more advanced discussions with hotel operators, we felt that the approved scheme was larger than necessary. That view has led to detailed discussions with planning officers who have welcomed the opportunity to take a step back and review the proposed development of this important site and reflect on matters of scale.
"That opportunity has also enabled a review of the architectural detailing and the materials palette, which all sides now believe presents a higher quality development.
"We are very much looking forward to bringing a global hotel brand to Grimsby and are planning to be open late next year.
"We hope to create about 40 jobs within the local economy and will be starting the recruitment process in the coming months.
"We would like to thank all the local people who have supported us throughout the process and helped us get to this point."
