New delay for the opening of £40 million Hilton Garden Inn in Peterborough

The long-awaited opening of Peterborough’s Hilton Garden Inn hotel has been hit by more delays.

Website bookings for room reservations at the £40 million riverside hotel are now only being taken from late July next year.

It had been possible to make reservations for dates from December 17 this year.

It is the latest in a number of delays for the 160-rooms hotel that will feature a Sky Bar overlooking the Cathedral, and which had originally expected to be able to begin welcoming guests at the start of this year.

The hotel even announced in March the appointment of a head chef and a food and drinks manager.

A spokesperson for the building’s owners, Propiteer Hotels, said: “As is often the case with complex construction projects such as this, there has unfortunately been a delay to progress with work on the hotel.

“We expect the hotel to be open in summer 2024.

He said: “Nationwide, there have been supply chain issues which have impacted many construction projects, including the hotel.”

The hotel also includes the construction of about 100 apartments.

The spokesperson added: “I’m pleased to say that work is progressing well on the new apartments, which we expect to be completed in the autumn.”

A milestone in the construction of the nine-storey hotel was celebrated in April 2022 when civic and business leaders gathered to mark a ‘topping out’ ceremony.

Then Steve Cassidy, managing director UK and Eire, Hilton, told guests he expected the hotel to open early in 2023 with booking being taken from March 1.

By February this year, bookings were being taken from July 17 with the delay blamed on the collapse of a main trading partner, long term supply issues for material and labour resulting from Covid-19.

In March, the first room reservations were only available from December 15 this year .

The Hilton Garden Inn is expected to create about 75 jobs and is expected to be a focal point for business and community gatherings with a flexible conference and events offering catering for 85 to 200 people.

Construction of the hotel, which began in July 2020, has been made possible by a two year £15 million loan from Peterborough City Council. That loan was due to expire at the end of March this year but the loan has been extended to the end of this year.

That was the second extension of the loan which had due to be paid by April 2022. Councillors agreed to extend it to March 31 this year.

But the Hilton Garden Inn is not the only new building in Peterborough that is struggling to open.

The 10 screen Imax cinema on the roof of the Queensgate Shopping Centre roof has been completed for about a year but silence has surrounded when the chosen operator, Empire Cinemas, was planning to open the venue.

Now it is the source of even more uncertainty after Empire Cinemas entered administration last week with a buyer being sought for the business.