Bradford’s newest hotel, which has taken on 42 mainly unemployed people, is gearing up to open its doors after investing more than £10 million converting a former office block into a 118-bedroom venue.

The new Bradford Central Premier Inn on Vicar Lane will open on December 5 in the nine-storey former Yorkshire Water offices and owners Whitbread have high hopes for its success at a site opposite the proposed Westfield Broadway retail mall.

General manager Simon Docherty, 36, has moved to Bradford after running restaurants and venues for the group over the past 13 years, most recently in Sheffield.

Simon said: “Being given the opportunity to open up a new venue was a great opportunity for me and my career. The new Bradford central hotel is also a great opportunity for Premier Inn which has made this major investment only after careful research and scrutiny of the market potential.

“We believe Bradford has great potential, especially with the Westfield development in the offing. Premier Inns are at the top end of the budget hotel market and we believe that the current economic conditions will work in our favour as both domestic and business customers seek value for money.”

Due to its location in a former office block, the new hotel offers a more varied range of air-conditioned rooms than the standard Premier Inn, which are priced from £52 a night.

It is also one of the first in the chain to feature airport-style self check-in kiosks, aimed mainly at regular customers who want to save time.

Mr Docherty will also host a lunchtime reception for around 70 local businesses on December 7 to promote the hotel to potential commercial customers. Bradford-based supermarket group Morrisons, which has 470 stores around the country, is already an established customer of the chain.

New recruits, who are mainly new to hotel work, are being put through their paces in readiness for the opening.

Mr Docherty said: “We have recruited local people, many of whom were previously unemployed. We prefer to take on people who are new to the sector as it gives us the chance to educate them in the company’s values and our approach to customer service. Our staff range in age from 18 to over 50 and this reflects our customers.

“As part of the recruitment process we worked with the Jobcentre next door, which led to Bradford College running a two-week course coupled with work experience and an interview exercise. From that course we’ve recruited seven of our new staff. We’ll probably follow that route in future as and when there are new job opportunities here.”

Local Premier Inns at Gildersome and Crossflatts were also recently extended with more than 40 new rooms and eight new jobs.