AN INTERNATIONAL leisure company is to open a hotel in Chatham Maritime.

Planning permission has been granted for a 90-bedroom Ramada Encore hotel to be built in Western Avenue, next to Chatham’s Historic Dockyard.

Building work is due to start within the next few weeks and the hotel is expected to be complete in late spring or early summer next year.

The opening will follow that of nearby Dickens World in April 2007.

The £62million tourist attraction themed around the life, work and times of Medway’s most famous author, will include six restaurants, including Nando’s and Pizza Express.

The neighbouring nine-screen Odeon cinema is also due to open its doors to customers on October 20.

Elwyn Nicol, senior project manager for the South East England Development Agency, (SEEDA) said: "It has been a long-held ambition to open a hotel at Chatham Maritime for SEEDA, Medway Council and the Historic Dockyard.

"A hotel of this nature will attract customers into staying in the area for longer."

Bill Ferris, chief executive of Chatham Historic Dockyard, said: "The news of an excellent hotel operator opening on this important site is terrific, not only for the Historic Dockyard and Chatham Maritime but also for Medway with its ambition to become a world class destination."