A hotel chain is not set to open in Sittingbourne before Christmas, as it had pledged.

In September, Travelodge announced it planned to welcome its first customers to its new town centre branch by December.

The opening, it said, along with another in Rochester, would take its total number of branches to 570 across the UK, Ireland and Spain.

But last Wednesday, a spokesman for the budget firm said the hotel was not due to open before the next couple of months.

The hotel is part of the multi-million pound Spirit of Sittingbourne regeneration project.

It was, and still is, expected to be the first company to start trading in the new Bourne Place leisure quarter, opposite the town’s railway station.

An eight-screen Light Cinema and restaurants including Nando’s, Pizza Express, Creams and Loungers are set to follow in spring next year.

The new £6 million Sittingbourne Travelodge has 63 rooms and has seen the creation of 20 jobs.

The Rochester Riverside branch, an 81-room hotel that cost £7m, has created 25 roles.

Its first guests were welcomed in September and it was officially opened at the beginning of last month. It was the 14th Travelodge to open in Kent.

The hotel chain said rooms at both hotels would be on offer from £29.

This week, there were still staff vacancies listed for Sittingbourne – in housekeeping and on reception.

Drone footage of the development from April

The company has previously said it was its mission to help unemployed parents return to work in the hospitality sector.

Meanwhile, an application for the signs for the Loungers restaurant, which will be based in the ground floor of the Travelodge building, were approved at the end of last month.

Loungers, which operates over 100 cafés across the UK, is planning to name its Sittingbourne branch the Sentado Lounge café bar.

Nando’s has also had its planning application granted for the restaurant’s signs.

Read more: All the latest news from Sittingbourne

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