The redevelopment of the travel centre for a new hotel with a ground floor food and beverage offer will provide an important development drawing in additional footfall

Located on the current Bus Station site directly to the East of the Keel Row Shopping Centre that sits between it and the Market Place, it will act as a ‘stepping stone’ between the more prosperous quayside area and the gateway into the town. It will build on the success of the Commissioners Quay Inn, provide a welcoming family restaurant facility and rooms for tourists and for visiting professionals associated with the Energy Central and the Port of Blyth.

It will replace the existing dilapidated 1960s bus station and enhance the historic street scene within Blyth’s Central Conservation Area. Bus routes, stops and shelters will be relocated into the Market Place providing new facilities. 

Benefits 

The ground floor food and beverage area will provide a generous double height space with wide-glazed frontages, meeting a clearly articulated community need for family friendly food and drink in the town centre. Spaces to the front and side of the hotel will provide opportunities for outdoor seating and an improved public realm with clear linkages through the Keel Row Shopping Centre to the Market Place.  

The Laurel Hotel will provide an additional 42 hotel rooms for the town, meeting a gap in capacity created by the movement of contractors and professional visitors to local industry as Blyth’s energy and advanced manufacturing industry flourishes.  

Timescale 

Funded by a combination of the government’s Future High Street Fund with a contribution from Northumberland County Council, the scheme will be delivered by March 2025. This timeframe will involve full and detailed planning including extensive community consultation on the detail of the scheme.  Funding confirmation is due in the Autumn.