'Get around the table or get out of the way,' is Peterborough MP's demand to Great Northern Hotel owners
The Great Northern Hotel owners are being urged to ‘get around the table or get out of the way’ ahead of the start of work on Peterborough’s Station Quarter regeneration.
The call comes from Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes who says the city’s civic leaders are frustrated by the lack of a plan for the historic hotel in Station Approach.
The 41-bedroom hotel ceased operating as a hotel in November 2022 when 80 asylum seekers were moved in by the Home Office and it was not until October 2023 that the hotel was stood down as a refuge.
Mr Pakes’ demand follows news that work on the first phase of the £65 million Station Quarter transformation will begin this summer with the creation of a City Link pedestrian and cycle route from the train station to Cowgate.
It is the start of a multi-phase project that it is hoped will see the transformation of the entire area around the station, a central part of which is occupied by the Great Northern Hotel.
Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes said: “We have waited too long for the owners of the Great Northern Hotel to come forward with a plan for the future of the hotel.
"It is an historic and important gateway to the city.
"With the Station Quarter now about to get under way, the owners either need to get around the table or get out of the way and let someone else take over the stewardship for the future.”
The latest filings at Companies House for the Great Northern Hotel show that for the year ending June 29, 2024 it had net liabilities of £616,895. It had no employees.
The hotel’s accountants state: “The directors have a reasonable expectation that the company will continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.
"This depends on the continuing support of the company’s director and shareholder.”
The documents show that the company’s director, Michael Chittenden, was owed £312, 091 by the business.
Land Registry documents show the Great Northern Hotel is owned by Bodelson Finance, a company registered in the British Virgin Islands.
.Adrian Chapman, the council’s executive director of place and economy, has previously told the Peterborough Telegraph: “It’s hard to imagine a fantastic new Station Quarter with a closed, tired hotel within the footprint – it doesn’t really work.”
A spokesperson for the hotel was not available to comment.