Work on a four-storey hotel in Epsom town centre is due to start imminently, the developer has announced.
Preliminary work on the future site of the Premier Inn in The Parade, Epsom, will take place prior to the redevelopment of the Comrades Club.
Demolition of the near-100-year-old club and the subsequent construction process would be underway in mid-June, a spokesman for developer Whitbread advised.
Epsom and Ewell Borough Council gave the project the green light last June despite councillors and residents raising concerns about parking and smoking.
The 57-bed hotel will also include a new club for members of the Comrades Club – which originally opened in 1920 – on the ground floor.
Bob Blaker, who sits on the club’s management committee, told the Epsom Guardian this would “guarantee the future of the club”, and that 121 members had unanimously shown support for the application last spring.
Owen Ellender, development manager for Whitbread said the hotel would create about 25 new jobs and that the Comrades Club’s new facilities would open in 2018.
He added: “We’d like to thank the officers, committee and members of the Comrades Club for their help and understanding during the planning process.
“Their support and insight relating to the development has been really appreciated and invaluable.”
From December 2012: Push for hotel in Epsom continues without Travelodge
Previous applications for an 82-bed and 77-bed hotels on the site – both of which would also have been four storeys high – were rejected in 2009 and 2011 respectively.
Dozens of residents objected to the application approved by the council last year on the grounds that it was “ugly” and that it would create traffic congestion.
Conservative Councillor Tina Mountain described the smoking area bordering the pavement as “disgusting” at the planning committee meeting in June.
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