THERE has been no confirmation whether staff at Pembrokeshire's two Premier Inns will be affected by job cuts made by parent company Whitbread, however the company's new hotel in St Davids will still go ahead.

It was reported last week that Whitbread, which owns Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and the hotel chain Premier Inn is to cut up to 6,000 jobs in the light of the coronavirus crisis, this represents one in five of the staff.

The company has two budget hotels in Pembrokeshire; one in Haverfordwest and one in Tenby.

There are also plans for a controversial third hotel to be built in St Davids within the next five years.

A spokesperson for the hotel chain said that it was too early to confirm exactly which roles in Pembrokeshire would be affected by the cuts as the consultation process has only just started.

However, she confirmed that the development of a new Premier Inn in St Davids would still go ahead and that there were no changes to plans to build the controversial hotel.

The application to build the 63-bedroom hotel with restaurant was approved by national park planners in December 2018, after considerable debate and local campaigning.

Campaigners objected to the hotel development, saying it would 'severely damage' Britain's smallest city.

More than 5,000 people signed a petition against the proposed Premier Inn and a packed public meeting also voted a resounding no to the hotel's involvement in the associated Glasfryn housing scheme.

The national park received 281 letters of objection, and 78 letters of support for the development.

The developers maintained that the hotel would generate 20 full time jobs and attract 40,000 guests throughout the year, anticipated to spend an additional £1.5 million per year in the local economy.

One of the planning conditions is that the hotel will have to be built by December 2023.