‘Hinkley Hilton’ will house 1,000 construction workers

Image: Life-long Bridgwater resident Emma Britton probes what the hotel means for the town (BBC)

Europe’s “second biggest hotel” is to house nearly 1,000 construction workers building Hinkley Point C nuclear power station. 

• Caledonian’s room service at the Hinkley hotel

The accommodation is the subject of a BBC Radio 4 documentary airing this week. The programme follows Emma Britton, a life-long resident of Bridgwater, Somerset, where the hotel is located, as she probes what the influx of thousands of construction workers means for the town.

Although the hotel is bringing prosperity to the area – creating jobs and bringing new restaurants and shops – some are worried about house prices rocketing, traffic increasing and parking being swallowed up.

Some even predict this new influx of men could lead to more divorces and pop-up brothels.

The figures for construction of Hinkley are extraordinary: at its height it will need 5,600 workers, bringing 20,000 people to the area and costing twice that of the entire 2012 Olympics.

The hotel is known as ‘Sedgemoor Campus’ and is just a few minutes’ walk from Britton’s home.

“For me this programme is about my home town of Bridgwater, which I love, and the impact on my hometown of not actually the building of a nuclear power station but what that comes with, and what that’s come with around the corner from my house,” Britton said.

“Not the Biggest Hotel in Europe” is on BBC Radio 4 at 11am on 15 February. It is available on the BBC Sounds app immediately afterwards.