A SCHEME to develop a new city centre Premier Inn hotel in Newport 'can and will work well', a spokesman for the national hotel chain has said.

He was responding to a recent claim that the chain could walk away from the city centre if a dispute over noise can't be solved. The dispute is between the developer of the site at the former Yate's Wine Bar on Cambrian Road and Queensway and the owner of the nightclub next door.

The Premier Inn spokesperson said: “We’re focused on bringing a new Premier Inn to Newport and working closely with the scheme developer, who is leading on the plans to try and make that happen.

"We’ll be looking at the issues the scheme faces around construction and constraints on the site, but ultimately we believe that the scheme can and will work well.

"A successful scheme is in everyone’s interests and we continue to support the developer in terms of overcoming the current design challenges to deliver a top quality hotel here in the centre of Newport.”

The dispute is between developer Richard Hayward Properties, which also owns the building, and Newport businessman Iftekhar Haris, who owns Warehouse 54 and a number of other nightclubs on Cambrian Road.

Property expert Haydn Thomas, of Hutchings and Thomas Chartered Surveyors, The Estates Office, Gold Tops, Newport, said: “The building is in a prominent and commanding position in the centre of the city of Newport opposite the railway station.

"It is important that this historic and iconic building is brought back into use quickly and is able to play a valuable part in the regeneration of the night time economy of the city as soon as possible.

“It would provide a huge boost for the city centre if Premier Inn did take occupation of the building and created new jobs and also the promised 60 new bedrooms.

"For example if it was open and trading there is no doubt at all that it would be fully booked for the Champions League Final being staged at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff. The hotel would also benefit from business created by the opening of the convention centre about to be built at Celtic Manor. There just aren’t enough hotel rooms available locally to cope with existing demand.”

A spokesperson for Newport City Council said: "The council wants to encourage and support both established and new ventures but it would be inappropriate to comment on what is an issue between two private businesses. We hope an amicable solution can be found."

Adrian Evans, manager for Newport Now, which runs the Newport Business Improvement District covering the centre of the city including Cambrian Road, declined to comment on the news that Premier Inn could walk away from the city centre. He said the two parties involved in the dispute over noise, which was holding up development, were both members of the BID.