A four-star hotel’s ambitious project to become a top tourist destination continues, with hopes to expand its own wedding venue.

Bosses at Dover Marina Hotel and Spa want to hold receptions and conferences at a newly-acquired, neighbouring property, which would have space for up to 140 seated wedding guests, rather than up to 100.

For events like cocktail parties or public meetings, the new venue could take up to 200 visitors.

It comes as the Western Crescent spot is set to expand by almost 50% thanks to its soaring popularity, with the number of rooms increasing from 85 to 122.

An expanded wedding venue would fill a hole in the market, planning papers lodged with Dover District Council say.

The documents go on: “Dover does not have a four-star high-quality venue that can cater for weddings, meetings and functions, for between 80 and 200 people.

“This means people will go to Folkestone, Canterbury and surrounding areas if they want a wedding function or conference if they need this capacity.

“The development of this additional facility for Dover Town would add to its tourism portfolio.”

The new conference and function room would be based at Protea House, on the hotel’s eastern side, which is already earmarked for 13 rooms.

The current function rooms aren’t big enough to accommodate such an expansion, and it’s hoped the move will mean minimum interference with the running of the hotel, which is part of the Best Western Plus group.

Walls and two chimney breasts are set to be removed from the vacant ground floor of Protea House, as part of the plans.

Planning permission was already given for the enlarged venue but a changed submission was lodged last month, after a wider part of the house was selected.

This new application is under the name of hotel managing director Kanagaratnam Rajaseelan.

A statement in support of the proposals read: “The proposed hotel development will be the only facility within the Dover town centre location with spa, gym, accommodation and conference facilities all under one roof and will allow both public and commercial users one location instead of multiple locations and travelling to different venues for different facilities.

“This is a sustainable solution with less generation of traffic movement in the town.”

Protea House used to be the Shalimar Hotel, before it was converted into a college annex in 1978. It was used for offices from 1993, in particular for the NHS, until the early 2010s.

Some 13 rooms opened in September in former flats bought by the hotel, above the nearby Wheelers Fish and Chips shop. It is hoped the rest of the rooms will be completed by the summer.

In September, the venue’s commercial director, Trevor Bond, said Dover is considered a key investment spot for the Best Western Plus group.

Explaining the reasoning behind increasing the number of rooms, he said: “We are trying to create a top tourist destination in this part of the world. We want this to be a place for everyone to go.

“This will help Dover to grow into a tourist hotspot.”