“BRITAIN’S poshest migrant hotel” has been revealed as a £150-a-night palatial manor house.
The 16th century Madeley Court Hotel, in Telford, Shropshire has been housing asylum seekers for the past three years.
The lavish accommodation has sparked fury, with some far-right activists even storming the venue in protest.
Backlash was aired on social media as people vented their frustrations with the Home Office shelling out for the fancy hotel while pensioners saw their winter fuel allowance cut.
Madeley Court Hotel has been used to house migrants since 2021, and it’s understood most of them came from Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover the same year.
It is now believed most of the asylum seekers are from Iraq after the council helped 325 people from Afghanistan integrate into the local community.
But Madeley Court is not the only luxury hotel to house asylum seekers.
Stoke Rochford Hall Hotel & Golf Resort near Grantham, Lincolnshire, which was once visited by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, has also been used – although this has now stopped.
Both the £175-a-night Stoke Rochford hotel and Madeley Court are run by the Talash Group, which has made deals with the Home Office, as reported by the Mail Online.
The contracts allow the chain to take over hotels and turn them into migrant accommodation.
Madeley Court Hotel offers a range of standard, executive and historical rooms, all kitted out with flat-screen TVs, with the cheaper ones costing about £150-a-night.
The “peaceful and historical surroundings” are complimented by its famously “superb service and cuisine”.
“It offers both the facilities of a modern hotel and the ambiance of a beautiful Manor House in countryside surroundings,” reads the website.
The 16th century Manor House is also a popular wedding venue, using a separate space called The Mill which can host up to 230 guests.
Jasmine Hikami, an Iraqi migrant who is staying at Madeley Court told the Mail Online his family “love” living in the “safe” hotel.
He said they “are looked after well” and praised their room and food.
But the 18-year-old did moan about being forced to share a single room with his dad, 42, and younger brother.
“We don’t know who pays for it but we don’t need to,” Jasmine added.
The teenager explained how their family have been in the UK for four months after fleeing the Iran war.
“We would like more space, a bigger room or two rooms but we can’t complain,” he admitted.
Jasmine and his dad are not working but said they were “thankful” for the British Government.
He told of his aspirations to study and work, but at the moment he looks after his brother, 11, doing school drop-offs and pick-ups.
However, some local residents have hit out at the hotel and expressed their anger over its new use.
Rose, the landlady of nearby The All Nations Inn, said: “It used to be a beautiful hotel but it was left to go to ruin.”
She said the renovation for asylum seekers has “angered a lot of local people”.
“Why are the paying public stopped from going there for our lovely Christmas meal and events as we have always done in the past?,” asked the landlady.
Rose said the hotel is now “swarming with security” and it is “probably us, the taxpayer” funding it.
She speculated the owners have made a lucrative deal out of housing migrants and branded “money grabbing”, “unfair” and a “dreadful decision”.
The place has been ruined now
Rose
“The refugees living there must have the poshest migrant hotel in the country,” added Rose.
But the heavy security guard presence has also stopped “intimidated” local residents from using a public footpath through the grounds.
The bouncers are also “under strict orders” not to let anyone inside without an appointment, and are “sworn to secrecy” over occupants’ identities.
She then alleged hotel staff have left over the years because of “very rude” migrants.
“The place has been ruined now,” continued Rose.
A punter in the pub agreed and said people are “devastated” by the decision to “ban” the public from Madeley Court Hotel.
He also believed the owners must be “raking in a fortune” from the set-up.
Another resident out walking her dog said while it is “a shame”, she was not opposed to asylum seekers living there.
“When I walk my dog I often see young children playing outside in the grounds, which is nice to see,” she added.
This comes as the Government revealed it plans to cut back on using hotels to home asylum seekers.
By Summer Raemason
The 16th century Grade II listed Manor house was passed down to the Brooke family in 1553, nearly a decade after the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Then in 1651 the beautiful countryside property was used as a hiding spot by Charles II after he escaped from the Battle of Worcester and before fleeing to exile and France.
Nearly a Century later, the manor was passed down to two Brooke sisters, Catherine and Rose.
Catherine’s portion was eventually passed down to her son John, who sold it in the late 1700s, while Rose’s half was split between four daughters.
The entire property was bought over time by a Quaker philanthropist called Richard Reynolds in 1781 and inherited by his family after his death.
It belonged to descendants of the family until 1889, but by 1880 it had slipped into serious decline.
Renovations took place in the early 1900s but it was deemed uninhabitable by the 1970s.
In 1973 Telford Development Corporation began restoring the historical building, which was completed over the next decade.
The manor house was transformed into a hotel inspired by architect Jim Roberts and became Madeley Court Hotel in 2014.
It was closed in 2021 to home asylum seekers and still remains shut off from the public.
A Home Office spokesperson told MailOnline: “This government inherited an asylum system under unprecedented strain, with thousands stuck in a backlog without their claims processed.
“We have taken immediate action to restart asylum processing and are delivering a major uplift in returns to remove people with no right to be in the UK.
“Over the long term this will reduce our reliance on hotels and costs of accommodation.
“We remain absolutely committed to ending the use of hotels for asylum seekers and continue to identify a range of accommodation options to minimise their use.”
