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UK budget hotel chain Travelodge is marking 25 years as a sleep retailer by hosting Britain's first Sleep Concert.

Guests will be supplied with pillows, duvets and eye masks and lulled into a slumber in their lunch hour with a specially devised selection of soporific sounds. Amongst the composers and performers to win this dubious accolade are Mozart, Bach, Michael Bublé and Snow Patrol.

The event will be held at London City Road Travelodge on Tuesday 20 July at 12.30pm.

The sleep concert was inspired by the revelation that three quarters of Britain's workforce are getting less than the recommended eight hours sleep. According to findings from Travelodge's 2010 Sleep Index, a quarter of bankers, who work the longest hours in the UK and tend to hit the sack at around 12.30am, admit to taking their laptop or blackberry to bed with them, whilst almost half of accountants look forward to a lie-in at the weekend more than sex. So Travelodge is looking to give sleep-deprived UK workers a bit of lunchtime shuteye to buoy them up for the afternoon, the evening and the weekend.

Leigh McCarron, sleep director at Travelodge, said: 'Travelodge has been a retailer of sleep since 1985 and to mark our 25th anniversary we thought it was quite fitting to host the UK's first 'Sleep Concert' in response to Britain's growing sleep deprivation problem.

'Sleep Concerts have been a great success in Japan, where sleep deprived workers will happily pay £50 for the privilege of nodding off to a live music performance; so that they can get some much needed shut eye. This idea has inspired us to create our own UK version of the concert, which will provide exhausted Britons the opportunity to relax, take a nap and feel revitalised; resulting in improved physical, mental and emotional health.'

The hostelry has been blazing snore-inducing trails since 2006 when they appointed the world's first sleep director to devise innovative ways of ensuring guests get a slumbersome night. The following year, the chain invented the Cuddilow - a huggable pillow for guests who miss their partner when staying away.

Ewan Crawford, sleep expert at Edinburgh Sleep Centre, said: 'The concept of a 'Sleep Concert' to help Britons catch up on their sleep is really interesting because it both capitalises on the power of music to induce sleep and offers the optimum environment for slumber. It's warm, dark and you don't have any distractions such as your mobile phone. What's more, it removes any embarrassment of sleeping in public - you can totally relax and be safe in the knowledge that even snoring is socially acceptable.'

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