National business law firm, DWF, has advised Whitbread on the acquisition of the first five sites for its new ‘hub by Premier Inn’ hotel brand.

hub by Premier Inn is a compact city centre hotel with contemporary room designs and good connectivity that will aim to offer value for money and appeal to customers who value price, location and design over space.

The new brand will target London and major gateway UK cities, with the first hub by Premier Inn hotel to open on St. Martin’s Lane in London in summer 2014.

Whitbread has secured five sites for the new concept, comprising around 1,000 rooms in central London, and is targeting around 40 hub by Premier Inn hotels, totalling 6,000 rooms, opened or in the pipeline by 2018.

hub by Premier Inn bedrooms will be around 11.4 sq m in size with space optimised through a desk that folds into the Hypnos pocket-sprung bed, luggage storage under the bed, an en suite bathroom with power shower, free wifi and a 40” inch smart screen TV.

Leading the deals for DWF, Paul Inman, Partner in the Real Estate team, commented: “We have worked with Whitbread for many years, and have helped them to grow Premier Inn to its prominent position as the UK's largest hotel brand. The launch of hub by Premier Inn is an exciting milestone in the Company's evolution and another significant step on the way to them achieving their aspirational growth targets. We are pleased to have supported the team in the delivery of such an exciting new project”. DWF partner David Frankland also advised Whitbread on the transactions.

Derek Griffin, Head of Acquisitions in Greater London for Whitbread Hotels and Restaurants, commented: “hub by Premier Inn is the latest exciting new concept from Whitbread. It will offer an unrivalled, great value customer experience in the most central locations. We have been testing and refining the hub by Premier Inn concept for many months and we are sure it will be a success with our customers. We are now searching for quality development sites across the UK to hit our expansion targets and we look forward to working with DWF on these deals as they come through.”

The deals completed and under contract for hub by Premier Inn in London include:

• St Martin’s Lane - 167 bedroom hotel which is expected to open in Summer 2014
• Tottenham Court Road (Goodge Street) - 179 bedroom hotel that is currently in the planning process
• Great Tower Street - 118 bedrooms hotel that is currently in the planning process
• Spitalfields (Brick Lane) - 189 bedroom hotel, expected to open autumn or winter 2014
• King’s Cross - 408 bedroom hotel, planning is due to be submitted shortly.