The site’s owners say they have had “no viable interest” from potential shop tenants since February 2024, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter

The former NatWest bank branch in Stratford Broadway (credit Google)

A former high street bank in Stratford could be converted into hotel rooms if plans submitted to Newham Council are approved.

The former NatWest branch at Gredeley House in Broadway has been closed since early 2024. Property investor Unex Group says it hoped to keep it as a shop after converting the rest of the site into a Travelodge hotel.

However, the company says it’s had “no viable interest” from potential tenants since February 2024 – and now wants to convert it into 18 more rooms.

Newham councillors approved the conversion of Gredeley House into a 151-room hotel in July 2023.

At that time, the NatWest was still open, and Unex’s proposals said this would remain.

Unex says that after the branch closed, it had marketed the premises “to provide complementary retail or leisure uses” but with no success. A marketing brochure advertised it for rent at £175,000 a year.

Planning documents state: “Unfortunately, despite marketing the space since February 2024 there has been no viable interest”.

The hotel opened as a Travelodge in January this year. New proposals say it would now like to expand into the former bank, increasing the size of the hotel to 169 rooms.

The proposals say the Travelodge “has proved extremely successful and achieves consistently high occupancy rates confirming the demand for rooms in this location”.

Unex submitted its planning application on 11th August, and it has been available for the public to view and comment on since Monday, 24th August, using reference number 26/01782/FUL.

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