From the Dover Express 16 October 1997, by John Mitchell.

£3.5 MILLION SCHEME FOR SEAFRONT HOTEL.

A £3.5 MILLION scheme to build a 95-bedroom hotel on Dover seafront is set to go before councillors.

Hotel management company Henley Lodges is liaising with Dover Harbour Board over a plan to demolish Marine Court, on a prime site near the Eastern Dock, and replace it with the new complex.

The proposal, if approved, is for Marine Court, off Marine Parade, to be knocked down next summer and the hotel built by the Spring of 1999.

If allowed, the development would ease a shortage of large, good quality hotels in the Dover area. A problem which has grown in recent years - especially since business at the £10 million Western Docks cruise liner terminal took off, bringing tourists wanting to stay overnight before boarding their ship sailing from Dover.

The four storey high building would include a restaurant, bar and also more than 100 car parking bays - including places for vehicles driven by disabled people.

Under a franchise agreement it would be called the Dover Holiday Inn Express hotel.

Mike Eddy, chairman of the district council planning committee, said he couldn't comment in detail at this stage. He added: "We certainly encourage new hotel developments to improve what we can offer tourists and visitors.

"But as planners we are also very concerned about getting the right sort of business in the right place with the right design.

"We look forward to the plan coming before the committee for us to examine in detail."

James Overton, the council's tourism marketing manager, said occupancy research shows the Dover area does have a shortage of good quality hotels, especially, from June to August but also at other times.

He said: "Dover definitely needs another good quality, but not too expensive, large hotel to cater for the growing cruise industry and coach parties using the ferries, especially at the height of the summer season."

Marine Court, between the seafront and Townwall Street, is owned by the harbour board but tenanted on short term leases by residents living in flats and maisonettes.

People living there were provided with other accommodation about four years ago and the flats re-let on short term leases, now expiring.

Henley Lodges originally wanted to build a 124-bedroom hotel on the site but the size was reduced following informal talks with planners in September.

The acre site includes what is now a garden, virtually unseen, and what was once the site of Dover's sea bathing baths - destroyed during World War Two.

Henley Lodges also manages the thriving 68-bedroom Churchill Hotel, formerly the White Cliffs Hotel, on Dover seafront, which at times during the busy summer months and other periods is forced to turn customers away because it is full.

From the Dover Express 12 November 1998 by Terry Sutton.

PLANS for a 100-room hotel and pub on Dover seafront have been approved.

Flats at Marine Court will be demolished to make way for the £4m project.

Developers say the budget-style hotel should be open by the birth of the Millennium.

The application from Wessex and City (Dover) Ltd was approved by Dover District Council's planning committee.

Two councillors who opposed it said the town would regret the decision in years to come.

Wessex and Dover Harbour Board, owners of the site, will form a joint venture partnership.

The hotel will be let on franchise to Holiday Inn Express which will be the name of the hotel.

Bill Fawcus, Dover Harbour Board's property general manager, said the hotel would create about 50 jobs.

"The new hotel should be up and running by the end of 1999. What better place than the pub to celebrate the Millennium," he said.

All tenants have moved out of the flats, next to The Gateway, in readiness for demolition.

The Dover Society backed the proposal, but English Heritage, keen to protect the view of Dover Castle and Moat Bulwark, opposed the design.

Dover's two associations that represent hotel and guest house owners also objected.

One spokesman had argued Dover did not need another budget hotel although members would not object to a five-star hotel on the sea front.

Roger Madge, director of tourism and economic development, supported the application saying there was a clear market connection with port activity.

The hotel, bordered by Townwall Street, Marine Parade and Douro Place, will also occupy the site of what was once Dover's swimming baths.

The most striking part of its design is a glass-fronted tower, the Rotunda, at the Eastern Docks' end of the development. This will be where a public house, and possibly a restaurant, will be sited.

Two councillors voted against the plan. Councillor Simon Bannister of Temple Ewell said the design was inappropriate.

"I think Dover will regret this decision," said Mr Bannister

From the Dover Express, 25 February, 1999. By TERRY SUTTON

'We won't be a partner in hotel scheme'

THERE has been a change to plans for a budget hotel on Dover sea front - but the project will still go ahead.

Dover Harbour Board was proposing to enter into a joint partnership agreement with an hotel chain to build the hotel on the site of the flats at Marine Court, at the eastern end of the sea front.

But now the port authority has decided, if possible, to sell the freehold of the site to the hotel group.

A spokesman for Dover Harbour Board said this week that negotiations over the sale of the site were in progress.

Planning consent for the hotel was given by Dover District Council at the end of last year.

Dover Harbour Board, at that stage, said demolition of Marine Court would be carried out under the joint partnership arrangement.

Because the Board has now decided to sell the freehold to the hotel company, Marine Court remains standing.

The decision does not affect the port authority's longer-term plan for a four-star hotel at the western end of the promenade, in a bid to get more cruise liner passengers to remain longer in the town.

From the Dover Express 12 July 2001.

Sea front hotel opens.

Venture brings 65 new jobs.

DOVER'S new 100 bedroom hotel on the sea front opens this week.

Scottish and Newcastle has invested heavily in buying the site and building the property.

It is the latest Premier Lodge hotel of which there are more than 110 spread through the country.

The Dover Premier Lodge has created 65 new jobs, nearly all of whom are full time employees.

In charge is general manager. Paul Whiternan, formerly, at the company's Cobham hotel. A one-time Tesco employee, he and his family have now moved to Whitfield.

Scottish and Newcastle Retail Ltd bought the sea front site from Dover Harbour Board. At one stage the port authority planned a joint venture with brewers Scottish and Newcastle.

But, with second thoughts, Dover Harbour Board decided to pull out of that venture and sold the land for an undisclosed price.

Dover Harbour Board already has a joint venture in the long-established Churchill Hotel in the centre of the sea front. And the port authority says planning consent is soon to be sought for a third sea front hotel at the Clock Tower end of the waterfront.

Marine Court, a block of flats, was demolished to make way for the Premier Lodge. Before the war, the site was occupied by Dover's swimming baths, which were badly damaged by bombing and shelling.

There are varying views on the hotel's architecture, on such an important site with a backcloth of the white cliffs on which Dover Castle stands.

The colour of the hotel's cladding certainly stands out in contrast to other sea front property, including The Gateway next door.

The £42-a-night waterfront hotel is illuminated in an interesting blue-mauve haze at night.

At the weekend, general manager Mr Whiteman and a team of visiting supervisors were putting the new staff through their paces.

He had invited guests in for a free meal and, if they wished, a night's stay in one of the 100 bedrooms.