Hotel in Diss won't accept single male asylum seekers
The Park Hotel, in Diss, issued a statement in which it said it would close rather than allow the government to place the men there
The row over the Home Office decision to house single male asylum seekers in a Norfolk hotel has taken a shock twist after the venue said it would refuse to accept them.
The Park Hotel, in Diss, issued a statement in which it said it would close rather than allow the government to place the men there.
The controversial move by the Home Office, details of which emerged last week, has already sparked protests in the town, with locals fearing it will lead to a summer of rising tensions.
However, in a new statement, released on Wednesday night, the Park Hotel said it would not accept single male migrants.
The hotel, in on Denmark Street, close to the Mere and the town centre, has been used for asylum seeker families, including women and children, since 2023.
The Home Office had told South Norfolk Council that it would be removing them and replacing them with men from Monday this week.
But the hotel said it wanted to remain as a home for migrant families and if not able to do so, it would close its doors.
It also clarified that the single men had not yet arrived at the hotel and that the families remained there.
The statement from the Park Hotel said: “We have been contracted by the Home Office to provide accommodation for families. This arrangement presently remains in place, despite recent public statements suggesting otherwise.
“We would also like to confirm and reassure the community of Diss that we have advised the Home Office and other stakeholders that, should this situation change, and we are formally notified that the hotel will no longer operate as a family-only establishment, we will have no alternative but to close.
“There are currently vulnerable families and children staying at the hotel – many of whom are feeling frightened and uncertain about recent events at the hotel and their futures.
“We ask for understanding and sensitivity during this time.”
A spokesman for South Norfolk Council said its representatives are meeting with the Home Office tomorrow, where they hope the decision to house single males in the hotel will be “officially reversed”.
Daniel Elmer, the council leader, said: “South Norfolk Council welcomes the move by the owners of the Park Hotel in Diss to refuse to change from a home for families seeking asylum.
“South Norfolk Council has been working with all interested parties, including the owners of the hotel to persuade the Home Office to change its decision to reconfigure the hotel from housing families seeking asylum to single males.
“The proposed change that came out of the blue late last week would have meant moving the 80 residents, 34 adults, mostly women and 46 children away from the town that they have called home for the last two years.
“Over that time the families have successfully integrated in the local community with the children attending school and the mothers joining local groups.
“The council has repeatedly written to the Home Office to arrange a meeting, which was eventually agreed for this Friday and we are hoping that following the decision by the hotel owners the Home Office, at that meeting if not before will officially reverse their decision and let the families living in the Park Hotel stay in the town that welcomed them so warmly two years ago.”
The Home Office decision had caused widespread alarm in the town.
At Monday’s demonstration, people with banners that said “stop the boats” faced off with counter protestors, who held placards saying “refugees welcome” and “stop the far right”.
Adrian Ramsay, who is co-leader of the Greens and the town’s MP, accused people of travelling from out of the area to “create fear and division”.