Esplanade Hotel, Paignton
The Esplanade Hotel, an 84-bedroom seafront hotel on Esplanade Road in Paignton (Torbay, Devon), was used by the Home Office as temporary asylum accommodation for up to around 140 people from early September 2022[1]. It exited asylum use by the end of January 2024, was sold to Compass Hospitality, and now trades again as a commercial hotel[4].
Capacity
140
people (peak)
Per night
£170
per resident
Annual
£8.7m
estimated
Background
The Home Office notified Torbay MP Kevin Foster on 31 August 2022 that it would use the Esplanade Hotel on Paignton seafront as contingency asylum accommodation; the first residents arrived on a full-board basis on 5 September 2022[1]. Torbay Council confirmed it had no say over the numbers placed there[2], and later spent more than £136,000 in legal fees on planning-enforcement action connected to the hotel[5]. In October 2023 the Home Office confirmed it would exit the hotel by the end of January 2024[3]. The 84-bedroom building was sold to Compass Hospitality and has since reopened as a commercial hotel.
Timeline
Timeline
31 Aug 2022
Home Office notifies the local MP
Kevin Foster told of intent to use the Esplanade for asylum accommodation.
5 Sep 2022
First asylum seekers arrive
Full-board basis; up to ~140 people housed at peak.
Oct 2023
Sold to Compass Hospitality
Marketed by Christie & Co while still in asylum use.
24 Oct 2023
Home Office confirms exit
One of 50 hotels nationally to close; exit by end of January 2024.
End Jan 2024
Asylum use ends
Building returns to commercial use after refurbishment.
Cost analysis
No per-hotel Home Office contract figure has been published for the Esplanade, so the following is an illustrative benchmark only. At the £170 per person per night figure reported by the Migration Observatory[6], around 140 residents would imply order-of-magnitude exposure of roughly £24,000 per night, or about £8.7 million a year, while the hotel was in use. The one published hard figure is the £136,000+ Torbay Council spent in related legal fees[5].
Sources
- Esplanade Hotel, Paignton — Kevin Foster MP, Sep 2022
The Home Office notified Torbay MP Kevin Foster on 31 August 2022 of its intent to use the Esplanade Hotel on Paignton seafront as temporary asylum accommodation; the first asylum seekers arrived on a full-board basis on 5 September 2022.
- Statement on asylum seekers arriving in Torbay — Torbay Council, Sep 2022
Torbay Council confirmed on 7 September 2022 that the Home Office was using a Paignton hotel for full-board asylum accommodation and that the council had no say over the numbers placed there.
- Home Office to exit Torbay hotel — Kevin Foster MP, Oct 2023
On 24 October 2023 the Home Office confirmed it would stop using the Esplanade Hotel in Paignton for asylum seekers by the end of January 2024, as one of 50 hotels being closed nationally.
- Seafront hotel in Paignton sold to Compass Hospitality — Christie & Co, Oct 2023
Christie & Co announced on 1 October 2023 the sale of the 84-bedroom Esplanade Hotel, then "being used to house asylum seekers", to Compass Hospitality, which later refurbished and reopened it as a commercial hotel.
- Huge legal bill over Paignton asylum hotel — Radio Exe, 2024
Radio Exe reported the Esplanade Hotel housed up to 140 asylum seekers at a time from September 2022, and that Torbay Council spent more than £136,000 in legal fees on planning-enforcement action connected to the hotel.
- 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.