A 90-BEDROOM Premier Inn hotel could be coming to Oxford as the city gears up for a tourism boom after the re-opening of the Westgate Shopping Centre.

Plans for the six-storey hotel in Paradise Square have been welcomed by Oxford City Council who have long acknowledged the city needs more hotel beds.

The hotel chain said it was excited to support the regeneration of the city centre and deliberately selected the site close to the Westgate.

City council leader Bob Price supported the scheme, saying that currently overnight visitors were often having to leave the city to find a bed.

Premier Inn's acquisition manager, Stuart Rose, said: "We’re looking to invest in a high-quality new Premier Inn for the city centre, adding more bedrooms and more choice.

"The application is based on detailed planning and design work and we have taken great care to ensure the building would make a positive contribution to its setting.

"We hope to have the opportunity to open a great new Premier Inn in Oxford, creating jobs, supporting regeneration in this part of the city, and bringing needed extra capacity to the city centre’s overall supply of hotel accommodation."

The hotel, on the site of the former Critchleys accountant building which is due to be demolished, will be a mixture of six, five and three storeys and also have a restaurant on the ground floor.

Approximately seven million people come to the city each year and in terms of overseas visitors it is the seventh most popular city in the UK.

A number of hotels are in the pipeline for the coming years and the opening of the Westgate development in October is expected to attract an extra 2,000 people into the city every day - many of whom will be looking to stay overnight.

Oxford City Council leader Bob Price welcomed the plans and said the city needed more hotel beds.

He said: "Oxford has been identified as a city with inadequate hotel space and we are very pleased Premier Inn have chosen to take up this particularly site.

"We need to increase our bed space, in the peak times the hotels are often full and we want people to be able to stay in the city.

"It will increase visitors' input into Oxford's economy.

Mr Price said he hoped a number of new hotels would emerge in the coming years, including in the Oxpens redevelopment, in the Oxford station masterplan and the former Cooper Callas building site.

Last month analysis by property company Colliers International put Oxford as the third most desirable spot in the UK for hoteliers, behind York and the winning destination Chester.

To comment on the consultation - which closes on May 18 - go to oxford.gov.uk and search 17/00860/FUL

A decision could be made in July.