The new Premier Inn, being built next to the Tesco Extra, has gone up fast since my last visit and will have 86 rooms.
In 2018 the Abingdon Oxford hotel became the Hilton Garden Inn and more than doubled in size with 84 new rooms in the four-story extension. So between them, that is an extra 170 hotel rooms since 2017.
The older, smaller Premier Inn is still there on Marcham Road, and I have not heard any news about it changing use.
The hotel business sector took a large dip in trade in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid pandemic but is nearly back to normal trading levels according to Statista.
Believe it or not it is very difficult to book a hotel room at certain times in Abingdon. The Premier Inn was fully booked when my grandaughter came to visit so had to book her into the Milton one. The new Premier Inn is very welcome. It will be interesting to see if they keep and renovate the old one. It is in need of a refurbishment as it is dated now.
Does anyone know how deep the groundsource heat pump pipes went down? And how many KW the solar panels will produce?
Perhaps the old Premier Inn could be taken over as a convalescent home into which “ bed-blockers” ( horrible term) from the JR etc could go until they are sufficiently recovered to go home without need for further care ? It could not be more conveniently situated just across the road from Abingdon hospital so that medical and therapeutic staff could visit regularly.
That’s a neat idea, ChrisS, but probably beyond the conceptual grasp of Steve Barclay.