St James hotel to reopen following closure

St James hotel to reopen following closure

St James’ Hotel say they will reopen the venue soon after a notice appears on the door, following closing down for two weeks.

The 125-bedroom hotel was taken over by the Home Office to house asylum seekers.

The idea was blocked by Grimsby MP Lia Nici and now the hotel is about to reopen.

A sign on the door states: “Opening soon! We look forward to opening our doors soon and welcoming you back.” The statement added: “We are sorry for any inconvenience our closure has caused. Kind regards The St James Hotel Team.”

It is the first official statement from the firm, Corus, which owns the hotel, since its sudden closure on Easter Sunday, April 17.

Hotel bookings and events were cancelled last minute as the firm apologised for any inconvenience.

Grimsby MP Lia Nici told Gi Media that she contacted Home Secretary Priti Patel and lobbied for the plans to be reversed.

She said: “I think it [St James Hotel] is a wholly inappropriate place for asylum seekers to be put in a town centre, in one building.”

She added that despite the public backlash, it was her own decision to lobby for this decision: “We’re regenerating the town centre and I don’t think it’s an appropriate place for asylum seekers, especially if they’re going to be illegal asylum seekers.

“I think it would create issues such as public order issues that we could do without in the town.”

Ms Nici went on to say that she got in touch with the Immigration Minister before escalating it to Home Secretary Priti Patel.

Many locals were relieved to hear that the plans had been changed, as the scheme received mixed reactions.

One wrote: “Well that hotel has just destroyed their own reputation in the space of a week. Corus will probably sell up as nobody sane will trust their bookings will be honoured.”

Some felt that the Grimsby MP only acted to increase her popularity, with one writing: “The cynical among us could be forgiven to think it was a manufactured ruse to gain popularly by the local MP who is flagging in the popularity stakes.”