PLANS to demolish the former Marks and Spencer store in Dorchester’s town centre and replace it with a hotel have been approved.
The site on South Street was purchased by Premier Inn’s parent company Whitbread in 2023 after the M&S store closed in February 2020 and fell into disrepair.
Now, the hotel chain has had plans approved by Dorset Council to bring a 102-bed hotel to the town.
The new hotel is expected to provide around 30 jobs, with Whitebread saying it would bring £3million to the local economy.
This would be the second Premier Inn in Dorchester, with one located in Brewery Square.
READ MORE: Hotel chain Premier Inn buys former M&S store in Dorchester
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Entrances to the new hotel would be created on both South Street and Trinity Street.
A Premier Inn spokesperson said the new hotel would help to meet the “significant demand for family-friendly affordable accommodation”, for the many business and leisure travellers who visit Dorchester throughout the year.
“Our Premier Inn hotel at Brewery Square is often fully booked, and we have no plans to close it if our plans for South Street go ahead,” they added.
Dorset Council’s planning officer said the general design “would be in harmony with and relate positively to adjoining commercial buildings and the town centre area.”
No objection to the plans were received by Dorchester Town Council.
The plans reveal that a cache of 22,000 Roman coins – known as the Dorchester Hoard – were found buried in the foundations of a Roman house when construction took place to the building in 1936.
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