Jurys Doyle Hotel Group plc announces the development of a 240 bedroom Jurys Inn in the centre of the London Borough of Croydon.  The total cost of the development including land acquisition and construction is Stg£15 million.  The development, which has received full planning permission, is sited on Wellesley Road, a prime location adjacent to the major corporate, commercial, retail and transport facilities.  Just 10 miles from the City of London, Croydon is the largest of the London boroughs with a population of 340,000.  It is 15 minutes by train to Victoria Station and only 20 minutes from Gatwick Airport.  It is the biggest commercial and retail centre outside the capital. 

“This is yet another step in our strategy to roll out our highly successful Jurys Inn brand in the United Kingdom”, said Pat McCann, Chief Executive.  “We have secured a tremendous site in this busy location which will be ideal for a Jurys Inn.  It fits our criteria perfectly given that Croydon is an active, year round hub of commercial and leisure activity and is served by excellent transport systems into the centre of London with travel time to London Victoria only 15 minutes.  At an outlay of Stg£62,500 per room, I am confident that this investment will match and exceed the success we have had in other UK locations with the Jurys Inn brand”, he said.

He continued “It is our aim to have ten to twelve Jurys Inns in the UK within the next four years.  With the opening of Croydon we will have five.  We see further opportunities in the Greater London area and are also targeting other major UK cities.  43% of Group profits now come from our UK operations and the successful market impact of the Inns has been a strong contributor to this”. 

Croydon is the economic and social centre of South London.  There are an estimated 9,000 businesses in the Borough making it the UK’s sixth largest commercial centre.  It is the UK headquarters for many major corporates including Nestlé, AIG Europe, Whirlpool, CGNU and Direct Line.

Twenty minutes from Gatwick Airport, it is on the direct line from Gatwick to Central London.  There are eight trains per hour to Gatwick from Croydon making it an ideal stop off for overnight travellers using the airport.  Gatwick is considered an important source market for Croydon.  Gatwick handles over 30 million passengers per annum making it the fifth biggest airport in Europe.

The site which has been acquired is an existing office building. 

McAleer & Rushe, who constructed Jurys Inn London and Jurys Inn Manchester for the Group, will also build Jurys Inn Croydon.  The 240 bedrooms will be fully air-conditioned and have spacious facilities at a per room rate of Stg£70.  The Inn will feature a restaurant and pub, as well as a number of meeting rooms for medium sized conferences and business meetings.

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