Aparthotel Adagio Leicester, Great Central Square
The Aparthotel Adagio Leicester at 3 Great Central Square is an Accor branded studio aparthotel managed by Serco for the Home Office under the Midlands Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contract. Healthwatch Leicester and the city council record 156 asylum seekers staying at the site, including families, single men and single women[1]GOV.UK.
Capacity
156
people at peak
Per night
£170
per resident
Annual
£9.7m
estimated
Background
The Adagio Leicester sits at Great Central Square next to the former Great Central railway station. Healthwatch Leicester listed it among three Serco managed asylum hotels in the city alongside the Grand Hotel (290 residents, predominantly families) and the Highcross Hotel (275 single men). The Adagio alone housed 156 asylum seekers including families, men and women, the most mixed cohort of the three sites[1]GOV.UK.
Leicester City Council's 2024 Joint Strategic Needs Assessment identifies the Adagio as one of the Home Office contingency hotels in the city, used as a stop gap by the Home Office while dispersal accommodation is found[2]GOV.UK.
Health and welfare findings
The Healthwatch insight report records mixed feedback from residents at the Adagio. Some families said the studio rooms were too small to live in long term, although most residents were satisfied with the accommodation. Several said visitors were not allowed inside the hotel and reported feeling lonely. Healthwatch also recorded a wider decline in residents' mental health and concerns about access to NHS GP and dental services across all three Leicester sites[1]GOV.UK.
Cost analysis
At the £170 per person per night Migration Observatory benchmark[3], a 156 person Adagio cohort implies headline taxpayer exposure of about £26,520 per night and roughly £9.7 million per year. The May 2025 NAO contract review put the average per hotel run rate across the wider portfolio at about £5.84 million per year[4]NAO.
Per-person per-day cost stack (benchmark)
£170- Hotel rate (room + three meals)£10059%
- Weekly cash allowance£74%
- Legal aid & casework£127%
- NHS / interpreter / utilities£1911%
- Contractor / security overhead£3219%
Cost in context
Aparthotel Adagio Leicester
£170
benchmark
UK asylum hotel avg
£170
NAO
Leicester budget hotel
£60
commercial
Hostel bed
£30
commercial
Timeline
Timeline
Pre-2022
Operates as a commercial Accor Adagio aparthotel at Great Central Square
2022
Home Office contingency use begins under Serco
Site placed on the Midlands AASC contract.
Dec 2023
Healthwatch insight report published
156 residents at the Adagio, alongside the Grand (290) and Highcross (275) Serco-managed sites.
2024
Council JSNA confirms continued contingency use
Leicester City Council Joint Strategic Needs Assessment identifies the Adagio as a Serco asylum hotel.
Sources
- Insight Report: Accessing Health and Social Care Services: Asylum Seekers — Healthwatch Leicester and Leicestershire, Dec 2023
Healthwatch Leicester insight report confirms three Leicester hotels managed by Serco for asylum accommodation: the Grand Hotel (290 residents), the Highcross Hotel (275 men) and the Aparthotel Adagio Leicester (156 families, men and women).
- The Population Seeking Asylum in Leicester City: JSNA — Leicester City Council, 2024
Leicester City Council Joint Strategic Needs Assessment confirms the Aparthotel Adagio at Great Central Square is one of the Home Office contingency hotels housing asylum seekers in the city under Serco.
- Asylum accommodation in the UK — Migration Observatory, University of Oxford, Aug 2025
£170 per person per day in hotels (2024/25 average); used for per-hotel estimates and food/utilities breakdowns.
- The Home Office's asylum accommodation contracts — National Audit Office, May 2025
222 hotels in use; £1.296 billion annual (2024/25); per-hotel approximately £5.84 million.