HOTEL chain Premier Inn is looking to expand one of its hotels amid a major overhaul of the business. 

Bosses at the Christchurch West Hotel in Bailey Drive are looking to build an extra 19 bedrooms on top of the existing 61. 

Plans lodged to BCP Council show an extra 14 on the ground floor and an additional five bedrooms, alongside a linen cupboard, on the first floor. 

As part of the plans, the existing building would not be expanded externally; rather, the restaurant on the ground floor would be reduced in size but not removed. 

Megan Wright, a senior planner working for Premier Inn, said there is a “lack of demand” for a restaurant of current size. 

She said: “The existing Premier Inn hotel is a well-used facility providing overnight accommodation for tourists and business travellers. 

“There is demand for additional hotel bedrooms which would create additional employment opportunities during the operational and construction phases, as well as supporting third party suppliers. 

“The proposal involves the conversion of the existing restaurant and as such would be sited on previously developed land and would make more efficient use of the site without needing to expand outside the existing curtilage. 

“As such, the proposed hotel extension would bring economic, social and environmental benefits. 

“The hotel operates viably and successfully in this location, whereas there is a lack of demand for a restaurant of the current size, hence the proposal for additional guest bedrooms and a smaller restaurant space.” 

She added the proposals would benefit Christchurch’s economy thanks to the additional guests the hotel would have. 

During the summer, the restaurant Holes Bay Table Table in Sterte Avenue West, Poole, closed in a bid to build more hotel rooms in the neighbouring Premier Inn. 

The decision was made following a consultation by Whitbread, owner of both the restaurant and hotel chain. 

The Poole restaurant was one of 112 sites proposed to close across the UK to ‘optimise the company’s food and drink offering’ through more hotel rooms. 

Sales across Whitbread's food and drink brands, including Beefeater and Brewers Fayre, dropped seven per cent in the first half this year nationally due partly to an overhaul across the division. 

Hundreds of sites have been axed and around 1,000 jobs have been cut. 

Whitbread also outlined plans in April to sell 126 of its less profitable branded restaurants and convert another 112 into hotel rooms.