The hotel has now closed its doors to the public to accommodate UK asylum seekers, leaving its paying customers wondering where they are sleeping. Sarah Ions, from Willenhall, was visiting Shrewsbury with a friend when she was told by the hotel that she would not be able to stay for her planned second night. After staying an uneventful night, hotel staff informed the two ladies that they were closing on Monday to make way for asylum seekers. “It was absolute chaos,” Sarah explained. “They told us they would put us in another hotel but this hotel is telling us that no one has paid for the rooms so we can’t check in and I just don’t know what to do. “We spent the day walking around town, but we can’t walk any more. We were told we can get a refund but that won’t come for three days and in the meantime what should we do? “I feel really sorry for the staff here, there’s a lot of people standing in the office. It’s not their fault but it seems like they’ve been left to it.” On Monday night, the hotel said it was working hard to find new accommodations for paying guests. In a statement, the hotel said: “We are working with the government to welcome people who are in desperate need of a roof over their heads – often people who have fled war-torn countries and are looking for a safe place to stay while they wait more permanent residence. “This interim arrangement will provide much-needed investment to the hotel, which we expect will help us in the future, as well as providing continued employment for our staff. “We will continue to operate as an accommodation provider, so we will be providing food and laundry services to our guests, but we will not be taking external bookings during this time. “We want to reassure residents and businesses that we are working hard to ensure our visitors are well supported. “Specific numbers are yet to be confirmed but we expect to host in the region of 30 to 60 people over a period of a few months and look forward to being able to confirm more details in due course. “We have made the difficult decision to cancel all future bookings and have contacted everyone about a future booking to let them know. “Where guests have already booked, we are also working with Shrewsbury BID to help find alternative venues in Shrewsbury town centre.” The leader of Shropshire Council said the authority plans to do all it can to offer support to those involved and hopes the opportunity will allow Shropshire to “play a positive role” in an issue facing the whole country . Council leader Lezley Picton said: “To date, Shropshire, compared to many other parts of the country, has received a limited number of asylum seekers. Shropshire has been very welcoming and welcoming to refugees following the recent crises in Afghanistan and Ukraine and I’m sure it will continue. “As a council, we will do all we can to support the various groups involved. We want to make sure this is done right and runs as smoothly as possible, and we are looking at ways we can encourage those at the hotel to make a positive contribution to life in the prefecture. “This will lead to significant investment in a key town center hotel and we are supporting Shrewsbury BID to ensure that other businesses in the county can help and take over any bookings that the hotel can no longer accommodate. “During the pandemic, another historic Shrewsbury hotel, the Prince Rupert Hotel, took it upon itself to deal with an emergency situation and support the homeless, showing how such opportunities can be the right thing to do, benefiting people and businesses. “I’m sure this can become another example where we can show how Shropshire is playing a positive role in helping this national issue.”
