London shines for Premier Inn hotels

The leisure group Whitbread hailed the "stronger" London market for quarterly sales growth at its Premier Inn chain.

Like-for-like sales at the budget hotel rose by 3 per cent over the 13 weeks to 2 June, despite its restaurants outside the capital being hit by a "more difficult" market. Total sales at Whitbread, which also owns Costa Coffee, rose by 9.2 per cent.