The Home Office is taking over a hotel near the Nottinghamshire border to house asylum seekers. The Best Western Yew Lodge Hotel, Kegworth, has confirmed that they will be closing to the public and has informed guests that their reservations and health club memberships have been cancelled.
The hotel will be temporarily closing so that the Home Office can use the hotel, however no end-date has been confirmed. Local residents first reported the closure, as they use the hotel for the Reeds Health Club and Spa, as members were told at short notice that their memberships had been cancelled reports Leicestershire Live.
Other businesses based in the hotel, such as Marco Pierre White's New York Italian restaurant and the Houdini Escape Rooms, will also be closed so that the Home Office can have exclusive use of the building. A spokesperson for the hotel said: "I can confirm the Home Office have an exclusive use contract at the hotel and starts this Sunday."
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The Home Office confirmed that 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, this decision has not been well received by local residents, who are upset over the sudden closure of a key hotel for the local economy and jobs. In addition to the businesses within the hotel, The Yew Lodge is one of the hotels that services East Midlands Airport and brings tourists to the area.
One concerned resident, who did not wish to be named, 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 created to stop the contract going ahead has received almost 700 signatures in the past 24 hours. The petition states: "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.
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