With the town's internationally-renowned food festival drawing people from far and wide just a couple of weeks away, what better time to open a new hotel in Abergavenny than now.

A 61-double room Premier Inn and the Brewer’s Fayre restaurant has opened at the Westgate development, at Llanfoist, Abergavenny, creating some 60 new jobs.

The development represents a £6.4m investment in the area by Whitbread at the Merthyr Road, Llanfoist, site alongside the arterial A465 Heads of the Valley Road.

The new hotel and restaurant were officially opened by Abergavenny’s deputy mayor Margaret Harris, who said: “I am delighted that the new Premier Inn and Brewer’s Fayre are now open for business.

“The two businesses have played a key part in bringing new jobs to the area and with the arrival of household names like Premier Inn and Brewers Fayre, it is a great sign that businesses are showing real confidence in Abergavenny and that the town is going from strength to strength.”

James Crawford, CEO of Pontypool-based landowners Johnsey Estates, which is developing the Westgate site, said: “We were very pleased to initially sell the land to Whitbread for this development. We are now delighted to be able to welcome the new Premier Inn and Brewer’s Fayre to the site.

“The hotel and restaurant will deliver much needed investment, jobs and new facilities to Abergavenny at this important location on the A465 Heads of the Valleys trunk road.”

Work is well under way on the construction of a Costa Coffee Drive Thru, for Johnsey Estates, adjacent to the Premier Inn and Brewers Fayre at Westgate. The new café will open in early October creating up to 20 new jobs.

Premier Inn, Brewer’s Fayre and Costa Coffee are all part of the Whitbread chain.

Johnsey Estates recently concluded the land sale at Westgate for the construction of a 70-bed care home creating up to 100 full and part-time jobs.

South Wales-Based market specialist care home business Castleoak Care Developments obtained planning permission to construct a care home on the site which is set to be operated by Wales-based Dormy Care Communities.

The total area of the Westgate development site is 12 acres (4.87 ha.) of net developable land. The hotel restaurant and café scheme takes up a portion of the land and is adjacent to the MacDonald’s drive thru which has created some 65 jobs.

Johnsey Estates is the developer behind the overall scheme. The company sold three acres of land to Persimmon Homes and after having completed the infrastructure to the site concluded the sales of other plots of land in line with the planning consents granted for the Premier Inn hotel, restaurant and drive through café.

With more than 760 hotels nationwide, Premier Inn is the UK's largest hotel chain, at more locations than any other hotel chain in the UK, with rooms in Abergavenny starting at £39 for a family room for four.