Leicestershire hotel temporarily closing to help home office house asylum seekers

A hotel in Leicestershire is being taken over by the Home Office to house asylum seekers.

The Best Western Yew Lodge Hotel in Kegworth in north west Leicestershire, has confirmed it is closing to the public.

All guests and health club members have been told about cancellations.

The hotel is set to close temporarily from this weekend, but no end-date has been confirmed by either the hotel or the Home Office.

Members of the club say they were told at short notice their memberships had been cancelled.

The other businesses based in the hotel, including Marco Pierre White's New York Italian restaurant and the Houdini Escape Rooms, will also be closed.

A spokesperson for the hotel said: "I can confirm the Home Office have an exclusive use contract at the hotel and starts this Sunday."

The Home Office has confirmed they will be working with the hotel to house asylum seekers due to the "incredible strain" that the asylum system is under.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The number of people arriving in the UK who require accommodation has reached record levels and has put our asylum system under incredible strain.

“We engage with local authorities as early as possible whenever sites are used for asylum accommodation and work to ensure arrangements are safe for hotel residents and local people.” However, the decision has been received poorly by local residents, who are upset over the impact of the sudden closure of a key hotel on the local economy and jobs.

The Yew Lodge is one of a handful of hotels which services East Midlands Airport and brings tourists to the area.

One concerned resident said: "Local people have lost their jobs, weddings, functions all cancelled and no access to the gym or pool, restaurant or bar which affects local people's access to facilities.

"We as a village are alarmed at the scale of job losses faced, no consultation, no notice regarding this, the lack of services in the village anyway now pushed further and a high ratio of people moving into the village who won't have anything to do."

A petition- which has almost 700 signatures - has also been started to stop the contract going ahead.

The petition reads: "Asylum seekers are moving in Monday, February 27 to The Best Western Yew Lodge Kegworth. They have told staff their jobs are unsafe unless they want kitchen work, took down all social media and cancelling people's wedding's at short notice.

"As a community we feel uncomfortable and unsafe with this decision. We are a small village with a small doctors surgery who are already taking on patients from Gotham Surgery due to the horrendous fire they had there last week!"

Best Western were also approached for comment, but confirmed that operational decisions are made by the hotel's owner, not Best Western, as they remain independent while being a member of the hotel chain.