A new Costa Coffee Drive Thru creating 20 jobs has opened at Llanfoist, near Abergavenny, adding another piece to the overall Westgate development jigsaw.
Landowners, Pontypool-based Johnsey Estates, let the contract to build the drive thru at the site on Merthyr Road, to Carter Lauren. Johnsey Estates has retained ownership of the drive thru, which it has leased to Costa Coffee.
Westgate is also home to a 61-room Premier Inn and the Brewer’s Fayre restaurant, both built by Carter Lauren, which have created 60 new jobs and represent a £6.4 million investment by Whitbread.
James Crawford, CEO of Johnsey Estates, said: “The opening of the Costa Coffee Drive Thru marks the completion of the latest part of our development jigsaw at Westgate.
“The hotel, restaurant and Costa Coffee Drive Thru are delivering much needed investment, jobs and new facilities to Abergavenny at this important location on the A465 Heads of the Valleys trunk road.
“Johnsey Estates has built the drive thru unit which is being let to Costa Coffee who will run the operation themselves and pay us a rent. We then expect to retain the completed investment rather than sell to add to our income generating property portfolio.”
Johnsey Estates recently concluded the sale of a 1.48 acre (0.60 hectares) development site at Westgate to South Wales-based specialist care home business Castleoak Care Developments for the development of a 70-bed care home, which will create up to 100 full and part-time jobs.
The care home, to be built on a plot of previously undeveloped land on the western edge of the site overlooked by the Blorenge, is set to be operated by Wales-based Dormy Care Communities.
James Crawford said Johnsey Estates is now turning its attention to bringing forward the remaining plots of land at the Westgate site for development. The property firm says it is in the market at present and is in discussion with complementary occupiers for the remaining sites in particular the central portion of the site.
The total area of the Westgate development site is 12 acres (4.87 ha.) of net developable land. The Premier Inn hotel, Costa Coffee restaurant and Drive Thru scheme takes up a portion of the land and is adjacent to the McDonald’s drive thru, which opened at the end of last year creating 65 new jobs.
Tom Swords, Costa Coffee Drive Thru Acquisitions Manager, said: “The location for the new drive thru is very prominently positioned on the Heads of the Valleys road, with good access and visibility to traffic in all directions. It also benefits as the main route into Abergavenny for traffic.”
Johnsey Estates is the developer behind the overall scheme at Westgate, Abergavenny. The company sold three acres of land to Persimmon Homes and, after completing the infrastructure on the site, concluded the sales of other plots of land in line with the planning consents granted for the Premier Inn hotel, Brewer’s Fayre restaurant, the Costa Coffee Drive Thru and Castleoak care home scheme.
Premier Inn, Brewer’s Fayre and Costa Coffee are all part of Whitbread.