BUSINESSES in a Hampshire village fear for their trade after the closure of two nearby hotels.

Two Travelodges are closing at the north and southbound Sutton Scotney services on the A34 are closing, a week after the company said it wants to build 10 new hotels in Hampshire.

As reported last August, both hotels were on a list of 49 Travelodge was looking to sell to reduce debts of £700m.

But businesses in Sutton Scotney, near Winchester, are concerned at the impact of the closures.

Lin Toomer, landlord at the Coach and Horses pub, Sutton Scotney, said: “It will be a big hit; we pick up a lot of trade from the Travelodges, particularly Monday to Thursdays. We will try our best to carry on but they were really good for us and the village.”

Hayley Forsythe, who runs the village shop Dever Stores, said they had many customers from the hotel.

She said: “There will be an impact especially on the weekends when the Travelodge was always quite busy.

People used to come in and buy lunch or snacks and we always found a lot of workmen would stay there and come in to buy drinks or food.

“I don’t know why these ones are closing though. One would assume they are not making enough money but people tell me it was always busy. It was such a convenient location.”

Ms Toomer added: “We heard last year they were looking to sell them but we thought they would stay open until they were sold. I’ve haven’t had any joy trying to get anything out of them and the parish council have tried too and been told “we’ll get back to you.

“If we could get some information about what will happen to the site we might be able to plan for it. It’s just bizarre they are looking for new sites while closing these ones.”

A spokesman for Travelodge said: “We regret having to shut hotels but it follows a strategic review last August where this site was identified as one we could no longer operate.

“We are continuing to look for sites in Hampshire because it is a very successful region for us and we are looking for sites around town centres where there is higher footfall and more demand for occupancy.”

The spokesman confirmed three staff had been made redundant while four more resigned. The remaining three staff are being transferred to other hotels.

Last week the company said it wanted to build new hotels and create 150 jobs, with sites wanted in Winchester, Basingstoke, Andover and Lymington among others.