WHITBREAD has announced it intends to pour nearly £10m into a Worcestershire town and create 140 jobs.

The former brewing giant is now a major leisure company, and is poised to create a complex in Bromsgrove, featuring a leisure centre, hotel and restaurant.

The David Lloyd Leisure health and fitness centre, which is expected to open in summer 2002, carries a £6.7m price tag.

Whitbread said 80 staff would be recruited to work in the club at School Drive - a stone's throw away from the council-owned Dolphin Centre's gym facilities near the middle of Bromsgrove.

The new club, based on land formerly used by North East Worcestershire College, would include indoor and outdoor tennis courts.

"We don't see this development as a threat, because the David Lloyd club will cater for a different leisure market," said Bromsgrove District Council leader Nick Psirides.

"In fact, I'd welcome this investment with open arms. It shows that Bromsgrove is the place to be."

The leisure group intends to open an 80-bedroom Travel Inn and Brewsters restaurant on the same site by February next year. According to Whitbread, the trio of outlets would lead to 60 jobs being created.

Whitbread plc ended a 258-year brewing tradition a year ago, when it sold its brewing arm to Interbrew.

In March this year, it announced the demerger of its pubs and bars business, a process due to be completed later this month. Whitbread's strategy is now to invest heavily in hotels, restaurants and leisure clubs.

The David Lloyd Leisure club at Bromsgrove is one of 54 that the company, which claims to have 60,000 staff, intends to be up and running by the end of next year.