Kirkgate Market: Leeds council issues update as city centre hotel plans set to go before planning committee

Plans for a new hotel development on the George Street side of the Grade I listed Kirkgate Market were submitted by Leeds City Council in August and the application will officially be considered by the council’s city plans panel at a meeting taking place next Thursday (November 30).

If the application is approved, then it is hoped work will start next year on a scheme that has been designed to complement other hugely-positive regeneration initiatives in the area around the market and beyond.

Coun Jonathan Pryor, Leeds City Council's deputy leader, said: “We’re proud of the positive difference we have made at Leeds Kirkgate Market, where monthly visitor numbers hit the half-a-million mark earlier this year. We are determined to keep building on that success, with the plans for the George Street hotel underlining the scale of our ambitions for both the market and the continued regeneration of the surrounding area.

“The new development would provide a much-improved connection between the market and Victoria Gate, while also acting as an attractive linking point in the wider flow of the city centre from Vicar Lane towards the Eastgate roundabout and Quarry Hill. We are pleased to be working on this project with Premier Inn, which has a commitment to delivering quality and good value that mirrors our own approach as a council.”

Ahead of next week’s meeting, the council also confirmed Premier Inn, part of the Whitbread Group, as the proposed operator of the hotel, with a pre-lease agreement already in place. Premier Inn’s customer base is typically split 50/50 between business and leisure guests, with year-round occupancy levels above 80 per cent across its hotel network.

The George Street hotel would create approximately 50 new full and part-time jobs locally once operational, with around 80 jobs being supported during construction. The site earmarked for the scheme is owned by the council and is currently occupied by a number of vacant low-rise shop units.

Paul Smith, acquisitions manager for Whitbread, said: “From independent research we know that Premier Inn customers spend £140 per night per bedroom outside of our hotels when they stay in city centre locations like George Street in Leeds.

“Multiplying this figure across a high-occupancy 143-bedroom Premier Inn on George Street would generate a multi-million pound boost to the local economy, helping to support the many established and independent businesses in the market and elsewhere across Leeds city centre.”

The hotel would fill the top five floors of the new six-storey building and would have 143 rooms as well as a bar and restaurant for guests. The ground floor, meanwhile, would be home to commercial units and a state-of-the-art council-run gym.

An initial ‘pre-application’ report on the scheme was considered by the council’s city plans panel in June. That meeting was followed by a period of community consultation, with the majority of comments received from members of the public being positive. Local market traders were among those contacted during the consultation process.