Training hotel plan for london

A working hotel, run by professionals but staffed by trainees, could be set up in Southwark, south London.

Several top hotel groups have been in talks with Southwark council and other bodies about plans for the new centre. The Butlers Wharf Chef School, which operates its Apprentice restaurant along similar lines, has also contributed.

Although the feasibility of the plan is still being looked at, the Government Office for London, which co-ordinates regional training policy, is understood to have reacted favourably. Possible sites have been looked at already and the hotel could open in 1999.

"The idea is to create a fully functional hotel of a minimum three-star level with around 70 bedrooms," said John Roberts, director of Butlers Wharf Chef School. The hotel would be managed by a partnership of private sector employers, Southwark council, Butlers Wharf Chef School and others. It would have charitable status, and train as many as 400 people a year.