£400,000 extension planned for Felpham hotel

Robert Wareham, who runs the Beachcroft Hotel, wants to expand its accommodation by a fifth and create a function room.

He has asked Arun District Council for planning permission for the £400,000 scheme.

He said work on the extension would be likely to start next summer if he received the go-ahead.

“Turnover has gone up by 50 per cent since I took over the business five years ago.

“I’m confident I will be able to fill these extra bedrooms 52 weekends a year.

“I’m having to turn away a lot of business at weekends because I don’t have the capacity,” he added.

“The hotels which Butlin’s are building don’t have any impact on me.

“It’s a totally different market.

“I can’t see them replacing all their chalets with hotels will have any affect on me at all.”

His planning agent, Richard Fletcher, said in a statement the hotel has 32 rooms and a function room which doubles as a restaurant.

“Demand for rooms and functions often exceeded availability.

“To redress this deficiency, and to help meet the needs of guests and visitors, an extension is proposed on a plot of unused land to the rear of the hotel,” he said.

“This will provide on the ground floor an L-shaped function room, which may be divided into two rooms.

“And on the first floor there will be six en-suite bedrooms of which two will be equipped as rooms for the disabled.”

The intended extension will cover 163 square metres to add 18 per cent to the hotel’s coverage of its plot spanning the Clyde and Canning roads.

This expansion will still see it occupy less than half the site.

Mr Wareham’s time at the hotel has seen it gain a three-star rating and become part of the Great Western brand.

He employs 20 full-time and 16 part-time staff.