Deputy Lord Mayor's Blog 41
I recently had the opportunity to open the new Birmingham Central Bull Ring Travel Lodge hotel with over 200 rooms.
This is a welcome addition to Birmingham’s Hotel offer, particularly in the current economic climate, and the investment of almost £10m is both a vote of confidence and an encouraging sign of the City's resilience. It is important both in terms of visitors wishing to stay here and for local employment. The opening of the hotel has created 30 jobs in partnership with the local Job Centre Plus scheme, helping people who are long term unemployed get back into work.
And It was pleasing to see the new hotel setting up in the most historic part of the city. Birmingham has a very nice 'foundation myth' that our population began some 1200 years ago - not very far from the new hotel - when a group of Anglo-Saxons led by a man called Beorma first settled here. Indeed the name Birmingham means ‘Home of the people of Beorma’.
And right through the Industrial Revolution and the explosive commercial and financial development that followed, there has been the accompanying need for places to stay and this continues to the present day.
I recently had the opportunity to open the new Birmingham Central Bull Ring Travel Lodge hotel with over 200 rooms.
This is a welcome addition to Birmingham’s Hotel offer, particularly in the current economic climate, and the investment of almost £10m is both a vote of confidence and an encouraging sign of the City's resilience. It is important both in terms of visitors wishing to stay here and for local employment. The opening of the hotel has created 30 jobs in partnership with the local Job Centre Plus scheme, helping people who are long term unemployed get back into work.
And It was pleasing to see the new hotel setting up in the most historic part of the city. Birmingham has a very nice 'foundation myth' that our population began some 1200 years ago - not very far from the new hotel - when a group of Anglo-Saxons led by a man called Beorma first settled here. Indeed the name Birmingham means ‘Home of the people of Beorma’.
And right through the Industrial Revolution and the explosive commercial and financial development that followed, there has been the accompanying need for places to stay and this continues to the present day.
A remarkable feature of the opening was an unusual fashion competition. Students from Birmingham Metropolitan College took up the challenge of making an evening dress from a bed sheet in two hours! The results were stunning and the judges, myself included were hard pressed to pick a winner. In the end I prevailed on Travel lodge to offer a second prize as well. All of the young students can be proud of their work and the contribution they made to an unusually interesting opening. 
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