Whitbread secures prime mid-town site for new hub by Premier Inn

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UK’s largest hotelier adds Victory House, Kingsway into its London pipeline
Freehold office building was purchased off market for an undisclosed sum
Acquisition is Whitbread’s 4^th major Central London investment in 2025 – collectively totalling more than £100 million
Intention is to convert the 1920s office into a circa 200-bedroom hub hotel

Whitbread PLC, the UK’s largest hotel company and owner of Premier Inn, has made a significant freehold hotel acquisition in Central London for its hub by Premier Inn brand.

In line with the company’s strategy of expanding its network of budget hotels in London, it has acquired Victory House (30-34 Kingsway, WC2) from a private overseas investor for an undisclosed sum.

The location matches Whitbread’s network plan requirement for Covent Garden / Holborn and provides hub by Premier Inn customers with doorstep access to Covent Garden, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, the LSE campus and London’s Theatre District all of which are less than a ten-minute walk away.

Whitbread intends to convert the 45,000 sq ft office building which is currently occupied until spring 2026 into a hub by Premier Inn hotel of around 200-bedrooms, subject to planning.

It plans to introduce the compact hub by Premier Inn bedrooms within the existing floorplates, retaining and respecting the handsome 1920s stone façade facing onto Kingsway.

The off-market purchase of Victory House rounds off an especially active year for Whitbread in Central and Inner London where the business is investing heavily. Since February [2025] the company has acquired four former office buildings to convert into Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn hotels – investments totalling more than £100 million.

Collectively the buildings, which include Victory House, will add close to 1,000 Premier Inn and hub by Premier Inn bedrooms into Whitbread’s secured development pipeline in a market where a significant proportion of their future pipeline is located. Currently 19% of Whitbread’s 85,000 bedrooms are in London.

Whitbread’s hub by Premier Inn is designed for locations in major cities where property prices are relatively high but, thanks to the brand’s smaller room format, is still able to generate attractive long-term returns whilst providing affordable rooms for guests.

Launched on St Martins Lane in Covent Garden in 2014, the brand now offers eighteen hotels and more than 3,000 bedrooms in locations across Central London and Edinburgh City Centre – with four further London locations currently under construction or in the advanced stages of planning, including a flagship 690-room hub on Strand, next to Trafalgar Square.

Unique to the location, the Kingsway hub by Premier Inn will offer stunning views over Lincoln’s Inn Fields to the east whilst being on the doorstep of Covent Garden to the west. Whitbread is due to secure vacant possession of the building in April 2026 when the lease comes to an end.

In line with Whitbread’s sustainability strategy, the hotel will be all-electric, powered by energy generated from renewable sources – with the building design itself set to incorporate heat recovery systems and air source heat pumps to create a low energy demand.

Whitbread was advised on the transaction by Ingleby Trice and the vendor was advised by JLL and Savills. Conversations with Camden Council on the conversion of the eight-storey building are anticipated to begin in early 2026.

Hotel website

hub by Premier Inn