Uncertainty surrounds use of Peterborough's Great Northern Hotel
Hotel likely to form part of Station Quarter regeneration
Uncertainty surrounds Peterborough’s historic Great Northern Hotel which sits at the heart of the city’s flagship regeneration zone.
A notice pinned to the front door of the hotel in Station Road appears to show the building is being used as a hostel for the staff of companies working in the area.
The notice is from Kent-based Ninety One Solutions and states: “We provide for whole property accommodation for contractors and businesses for a wide variety of sites in the UK, From two nights to 12 months.”
A spokesperson for the company did not respond to a request for a comment.
But its website lists the hotel among its ‘projects’ and states its involvement with the hotel includes having ‘helped secure planning, completed enabling works and are providing 24-hour site security to ensure site safety.’
The apparent new use of the hotel follows 16 months in which it was used as a refuge for asylum seekers.
About 80 asylum seekers were moved into the hotel by the Home Office in November 2022 prompting criticism from Peterborough MP Paul Bristow and Peterborough City Council claiming it was inappropriate because of the hotel’s place at the heart of the Station Quarter regeneration area.
The hotel was ‘stood down’ by the Home Office as a refuge in February last year.
The 41-bedroom hotel traces its origins to 1852 and is a significant feature in the council’s £65 million Station Quarter plan which envisages a new look train station that sweeps out into a huge open area linking to the city centre.
Labour Councillor Nick Thulbourn, the cabinet member responsible for regeneration, said: “It is a matter of concern that the hotel has not been in use as a hotel for some time.
"The hotel will obviously be part of the regeneration of the Station Quarter. How and when we can make that work is still being discussed.
"We are working on what should happen to that building but we have not decided anything on the Great Northern Hotel at the moment.”
"But is an active part of the Station Quarter development.
According to documents at Companies House, entrepreneur Micheal Chittenden is the ‘person with significant control of the business’.
He did not respond to a request for a comment.