Phoenix Hotel in North Weald to stop being used as asylum accommodation
Epping Forest District Council says the Home Office has informed it that the Phoenix Hotel in North Weald is to be fully decanted.
By Keep Updated UK Newsdesk
Published:
The Phoenix Hotel in North Weald is to stop being used as asylum accommodation, according to Epping Forest District Council.
The council said it was informed by the Home Office on 2 October that the hotel would be fully decanted.
People currently living at the property have been notified and are expected to be relocated to other parts of the asylum accommodation estate over the coming weeks.
Follows Bell Hotel closure
The announcement follows the end of asylum accommodation at the Bell Hotel in Epping in July.
Epping Forest District Council says that following the Phoenix Hotel's closure there will be no hotels in the district being used to house newly arrived asylum seekers.
Council criticises communication
The council said information about the closure came through Ready Homes, a subsidiary of Clearsprings Ready Homes, which provides asylum accommodation under Home Office arrangements.
Council leader Chris Whitbread welcomed the planned closure while criticising the way information had been communicated.
He also reiterated the council's previously stated concerns about the suitability of the location and its impact on local services.
Those criticisms are the council's position and should not be treated as independently established findings by Keep Updated UK.
Part of a wider reduction
National Home Office statistics show the number of supported asylum seekers living in hotels has been falling.
At the end of June 2026, 16,021 people receiving asylum support were in hotels — half the number recorded a year earlier.
Keep Updated UK will continue following hotel closures, openings and changes where reliable confirmation is available.
Sources
- Epping Forest District Council — Phoenix Hotel to close to asylum seekers
- Home Office immigration statistics