Whitbread Premier Inn hotel and Beefeater restaurant to open in April at the Weymouth Gateway development (From Dorset Echo)

Whitbread Premier Inn hotel and Beefeater restaurant to open in April at the Weymouth Gateway development

10:02am Tuesday 29th January 2013 in News By Joanna Davis

A £6MILLION investment will be injected into the local economy when a Weymouth hotel and restaurant development opens its doors.

The new Whitbread Premier Inn hotel and Beefeater restaurant, part of the Weymouth Gateway development, will provide 55 jobs when it opens later than planned, on April 8. It was originally going to open on Monday, March 25.

Paul Male, new openings general manager for Weymouth, said he is thrilled to bring the 60-bedroom hotel and restaurant to the town.

South Dorset MP Richard Drax welcomed the investment in the area.

He said: “It’s good to see people putting capital into Weymouth and Portland “Investment in any area encourages other investment.

“I hope that anyone who has lost their job can go and look for work there.

“It’s a perfect site for development.”

Mr Drax said he thinks the Weymouth and Portland area has bucked a national trend.

“Although I hate seeing people out of work, with all the economic difficulties we’ve had, the area hasn’t done too badly.

“The opening of the hotel and restaurant is a very welcome addition to this area.”

Whitbread says the new style Beefeater restaurant will offer ‘a relaxed and casual dining experience’ and its menu will focus on steak and ‘classic dishes with a modern twist’.

The eatery will boast a pink cow logo and the strap line ‘passionate about steak’.

Main courses are priced from £8.99 to £16.99 and there will also be a pudding trolley.

Premier Inn says the hotel is aimed at both business and leisure travellers to Weymouth.

The £60million 35-acre Weymouth Gateway site at Mount Pleasant, Mercery Road, will provide more than 1,000 jobs when it is complete, although some of these are safeguarded posts for New Look employees.

Around 400 members of staff have transferred from the clothing firm’s old headquarters on the same site to the newly constructed New Look offices.

A Sainsbury’s store at the same site, including a six-pump petrol station and a customer restaurant, will bring 400 jobs to Weymouth.

Approximately 180,000sq ft of office, light industrial and warehouse units is being developed in phases.