Call for new Wolverhampton hotel to serve hospital and leisure park
Moves to grow Wolverhampton’s hotel economy and encourage more people to take advantage of its developing night-time economy, have prompted calls for council bosses to meet existing visitor demand outside the city centre.
A long-serving city councillor says he believes Bentley Bridge Retail Park and New Cross Hospital in Wednesfield, and also the racecourse at Dunstall Park, served by the 54-room Holiday Inn – both experience high numbers of visitors who require overnight accommodation but are forced to travel further afield.
Councillor Phil Bateman (Lab. Wednesfield North), first raised the matter with council members earlier this month, and highlighted the recent closure of the city’s 89-room Premier Inn near the former Low Level Station, the nearest hotel to the hospital and Bentley Bridge.
The Premier reportedly closed for refurbishments at the end of January.
Councillor Bateman said: “A bid is, quite rightly, being made to attract an international hotel brand to Wolverhampton that will help grow the business and leisure economy, and also encourage interest from outside investors.
“The whole country closed down after Covid, but we seem to have opened up with a new lease of life, renewed enthusiasm and renewed vigour and some major investments in our city centre are helping to drive that.
“Regarding retail and the importance of manufacturing and industry and its requirements and needs, just down the road from the city centre we’ve got New Cross Hospital.
"This is a huge regional hospital that has 7,000 people working at it.
“During an average day, numbers at that site go up to and beyond 11,000, which is a mixture of visiting medical people, patients and their relatives, as well as the 7,000 workers.
"That’s not likely to go away and it’s going to continue to grow.
“People talk to me, and we know that there is a huge pull from medical professionals visiting the hospital site, operating there, talking about the future and their suppliers.
"I know that they struggle to get people to stay overnight, especially patients and their families or friends who have come in worried about any number of medical problems.
“I would suggest that the council should be looking to have a hotel, maybe a Travelodge nearby. Rugeley town has a Travelodge, not that big but very successful.
"I would like us to look into having a Travelodge, or similar, to serve the hospital site, the leisure centre at Bentley Bridge, and also the developments taking place around manufacturing and industry in that area.
“We’ve also got the Holiday Inn serving the racecourse at Dunstall Park, and they have 53 rooms.
"Having stayed there recently and talked to staff, I know it is always full on race days almost every day of the week.
"We should be pressing them to extend with more rooms, especially now that we also know an application has been made for greyhound racing on the site.
“That is going to see even more international interest in the racecourse complex.
"The Holiday Inn is a great hotel, but I don’t think the capacity is there to meet the demand at the moment.
"We all want the best for our city here, there’s no political divide.
"Our eyes are open and the opportunities are there, so now vision is required and then some action to follow."
A spokesperson for Wolverhampton Council said: “The council is seeking to deliver a new premium hotel offer in the city centre.
"The Wolverhampton Investment Prospectus presents an ambitious vision of how the city can grow, highlighting opportunities to build on the levels of public and private sector investment already on site or in the pipeline in Wolverhampton.”
Council bosses are eager to capitalise on recent success stories that have helped boost regeneration in the city, such as the reopening of The Halls and the arrival of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities at the i9 building.
