The Government has announced the permanent closure of 13 hotels used to accommodate migrants, including three in the North West, but Warrington’s two sites that have been closed to the public will remain in use, a Home Office statement has confirmed.
Which hotels in Warrington are affected?
Local residents will continue to see two hotels unavailable for general bookings:
- Holiday Inn, Woolston — closed to the public since summer 2023 and reported to be housing more than 100 single male migrants.
- Fir Grove Hotel, Grappenhall — a venue popular for weddings and events that shut its doors to the public in November 2022.
The two Warrington properties were not included in the Government’s latest list of 13 hotels being returned to communities to support local jobs and economies. The Home Office said that, as part of its wider plans to reform asylum accommodation, closures across England are taking place but some sites will remain in use to manage the existing estate.
"The closures form part of the Home Secretary's major plans to restore control to the border and fairness to Britain's immigration system," a Home Office spokesman said.
Regional and national context
In the North West, the hotels named on the closure list are:
- Chimney House Hotel, Sandbach
- Britannia Ashley Hotel, Hale
- Grand Metropole Hotel, Blackpool
The Home Office said a further 31 migrant hotels had been announced for closure since April, and that this latest tranche of 13 is part of a broader plan to reduce the number of hotels used for asylum accommodation. The announcement comes amid continuing high-profile Channel crossings; the previous day saw a record inflatable boat crossing with 230 people aboard.
| Measure | Figure (as reported) |
|---|---|
| Hotels announced closed today | 13 |
| Hotels announced closed since April | 31 |
| Approximate number of migrant hotels still open (reported) | ~160 |
Local consequences and unanswered questions
For Warrington residents, the decision means the Holiday Inn in Woolston and Fir Grove in Grappenhall will continue to be used to house people seeking asylum. That has several local implications:
- Community services and voluntary groups may continue to offer or plan support activity for people living at those sites.
- Local businesses and event organisers will continue to be unable to use Fir Grove for bookings that previously generated trade and employment.
- Residents and councillors may seek clarity about long-term plans for the sites and the timetable for any future changes.
The Home Office statement noted that those still awaiting an asylum decision have been moved to other accommodation within the asylum estate. It also framed the closures as part of efforts to "remove the incentives that encourage illegal migration and ramp up removals of those with no right to be here."
Officials have pointed to falling overall arrivals this year compared with last year, citing a provisional figure of 15,242 arrivals so far in 2026 — down 42 per cent on the same point in 2025 and down 14 per cent on 2024 — but the continued use of a sizable number of hotels nationally means local impacts persist.
Warrington residents seeking more information are likely to press for details from local authorities and the Home Office about the duration of closures, support services available to those housed in the town, and the economic effects on venues such as Fir Grove whose public operations were paused to accommodate asylum accommodation.
The Government’s approach to the asylum estate remains an evolving policy area; the latest closures will reconfigure where people are housed but leave some high-profile local sites, including the two in Warrington, still in use.
