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The search is on for a location in Newry for a Premier Inn. Whitbread PLC who own the brand is actively looking for a site in Newry as well as Enniskillen and Belfast City Centre. These would complement their existing network of 7 hotels in Belfast, Lisburn, Bangor, Carrickfergus and Derry.
Additionally planning permission has been granted for a Premier Inn at Belfast International Airport and it is hoped that this will start in 2025. The last Premier Inn was opened in Lisburn in 2019.
Whitbread operates more than 85,500 bedrooms from 855 locations and has an ambition to expand its offer to 125,000 UK & Ireland rooms.
In Newry several locations have applied for planning permission or received planning permission for a hotel in recent years. At Merchants Quay in September 2023 a proposal of application notice was submitted for an 82 bedroom hotel. Planning permission was granted for a 40 bedroom hotel in Hill Street in 2021 and in 2011 planning was granted for a 64 bedroom hotel at Trevor Hill. Sadly none of these projects progressed, leaving Newry with just two hotels, the Canal Court and the Mourne Country. Conditions imposed when granting planning can mean that the viability of projects is reconsidered.
