Cumberland Council Approves Premier Inn’s 104-Bedroom Hotel in Carlisle City Centre

Cumberland Council’s Planning Committee has resolved to grant planning permission for Premier Inn’s proposed 104-bedroom hotel in Carlisle City Centre.

Cumberland Council’s Planning Committee has approved plans for a 104-bedroom Premier Inn hotel at the West Walls site on Victoria Viaduct in Carlisle City Centre. The decision enables Whitbread, owner of the Premier Inn brand, to invest £12 million in the development.

The proposed five-storey hotel will feature Premier Inn’s latest ‘Standard’ and ‘Premier Plus’ bedrooms. The building’s design accounts for several constraints, including changes in topography, height restrictions, and the presence of the listed City wall along part of the site boundary. Whitbread’s design team worked with the Cumberland Council’s planning officers to address these factors.

Whitbread announced its intention to redevelop the West Walls site in May 2025. The site has been vacant since the previous hotel was demolished and cleared by Carlisle City Council in 2020, following a structural safety assessment that deemed it unsafe.

An independent economic impact assessment submitted with the planning application estimates the new hotel will contribute £4 million per year to the Carlisle economy. The project is expected to create approximately 25 permanent hospitality jobs upon opening and support around 45 jobs in the construction supply chain during the build.

The company currently owns and operates 11 Premier Inn hotels in Cumbria. The new hotel is planned to be powered by electricity backed by Renewable Energy Guarantees of Origin (REGO), with heat recovery systems and air source heat pumps incorporated to reduce energy demand, in line with Whitbread’s sustainability strategy.

Construction is expected to commence in 2026, subject to the successful discharge of planning conditions. The company is targeting to welcome its first customers before the end of 2028.