BUDGET hotel chain Travelodge has revealed plans to open a hotel in Oxford’s Cowley Road.

The firm has been attempting for years to open a hotel in Abingdon Road but it has now emerged that it is eyeing up a site in the heart of East Oxford.

But the Thame-based company has said it will only open in Tyndale House if it can have a restaurant on the ground floor.

Matthew Chapman, assistant manager of the Truck Store music shop, said: “It would make sense that there is affordable hotel accommodation near the city centre. I would have thought that it would be a good idea and bring more business to the area.

“There are plenty of restaurants in Cowley Road, so another one is no harm.”

Earlier this year developer Wilton Place Properties was given planning permission to turn the former office block into a 66-room hotel.

At the time it said the application had been made speculatively, as no hotel operator was lined up to take on the building. But it added there was “considerable demand” from hotel companies for this kind of venture in Oxford.

Another planning application has now been submitted to turn one of the units below Tyndale House, currently occupied by Professional Music Technology, into a restaurant.

In the proposal Wilton Place Properties states that it is in discussions with Travelodge over taking on the building but says the hotel firm needs a café or a restaurant.

Professional Music Technology has decided to relocate to larger premises within Oxford later in 2013 and Loungers Ltd has been chosen to take on the restaurant.

Darren Fellerdale, the manager of Professional Music Technology, said: “I wasn’t aware that our unit was going to be used but we have been hoping to move for quite some time.

“We’re definitely staying within the ring road and we would love to stay on the Cowley Road.

“All the other shops in the chain are bigger than us by at least half as big again and there are not many shops that do what we do in the area so we could offer our customers more.”

Tim Smith, manager of bar The Corridor opposite Tyndale House, said: “There isn’t any parking here from that point of view.

“Cowley Road is reknowned for eating and drinking so it depends on what restaurant goes there. It wouldn’t affect us though.”

In April plans for a Travelodge at the bottom of Abingdon Road were thrown out by Oxford City Council for the second time because councillors said the 45 parking spaces allotted on the site would not be sufficient.

But drivers coming to the Cowley Road Travelodge are being expected to use the nearby Union Street car park which is run by the city council.

Both Travelodge and Loungers, the Bristol-based café, bar and restaurant group, would not comment.