UK Home Office closes asylum hotels in Bedfordshire and Kent

The Home Office has terminated its contract for the Sharnbrook Hotel in Bedfordshire, handing the property back to the local community. The closure is part of a wider government plan to end the use of hotels for asylum accommodation, with 20 sites across England slated to close and the number of asylum hotels halved to under 170.

A second hotel, the Granby Hotel in Northfleet, Kent, has also been emptied, marking the second tranche of closures after 11 hotels were shut in April. The government is shifting asylum seekers to large, basic accommodation on former Ministry of Defence sites such as Bicester, Barnham and Linton‑on‑Ouse, which together could house up to 3,750 people. Minister for Border Security and Asylum Alex Norris said the moves “hand them back to communities” and restore order to the asylum system.

Overall, the number of asylum seekers housed in hotels has fallen from a peak of 56,000 to about 21,000, while initial asylum decisions have risen sharply, reducing the decision backlog by 72 % since June 2023.