Granby Hotel, Northfleet
The Granby Hotel sits on The Hill in Northfleet, just outside Gravesend in Kent. Long-term residents at the hotel were told on 28 January 2023 that they had to find new accommodation by 1 February, before approximately 70 asylum seekers were moved in by the Home Office on 21 February 2023, against the explicit objections of Gravesham Borough Council[1]Press[3]Press.
Cumulative taxpayer spend
£13,839,700
Cumulative spend since February 2023: £13,839,700 (+ £12,000 ancillary)
- Asylum use began
- February 2023
- Current status
- Still in asylum use
- Peak residents
- 70
- Days in asylum use
- 1,163
- Benchmark rate
- £170/person/night
No site-specific total has been published, so this figure approximates it using the contracted bed capacity (peak resident count as a proxy) at the £170/person/night NAO all-in benchmark across the documented asylum-use window. Home Office contracts pay for the full capacity whether beds are occupied or empty, so this is a rough "taxpayer exposure" measure — not a settled invoice.
Capacity
70
reported residents
Per night
£170
per resident
Annual
£4.3m
estimated
Background
The Granby is a hotel on The Hill in Northfleet, just outside Gravesend. KentOnline reported that the Home Office sought to use the site to house around 70 asylum seekers, with Gravesham Borough Council saying it had been put in an unwelcome position by the proposal[1]Press.
Long-term residents evicted on days notice
KentOnline confirmed that long-term residents living at The Granby were told on Saturday, 28 January 2023, that they would need to find new accommodation by Wednesday, 1 February. Asylum seekers were then moved in by the Home Office on Tuesday, 21 February 2023[3]Press.
Gravesham Borough Council opposition
Gravesham Borough Council formally objected to the use of the hotel. The council leader told KentOnline that the local authority was totally opposed to the plan, calling it the wrong use in the wrong place. The council also raised concerns about the lack of risk and impact assessments and the transparency of when the hotel would actually be used[1]Press.
The council also raised specific concerns about worrying social media activity in the area highlighting extremist views in advance of the move[2]Press.
Cost analysis
At the £170 per person per night Migration Observatory benchmark[4], a hotel housing 70 residents implies headline taxpayer exposure of about £11,900 per night and roughly £4.3 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[5]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
Granby Hotel
£170
benchmark
UK asylum hotel avg
£170
NAO
Gravesend budget hotel
£65
commercial
Hostel bed
£30
commercial
Timeline
Timeline
Pre-2023
Operates as a commercial hotel on The Hill in Northfleet, with long-term resident lodgers
28 Jan 2023
Long-term residents told to leave
Existing residents are told they have less than a week to find new accommodation.
Feb 2023
Council opposition
Gravesham Borough Council writes to the Home Secretary and tells KentOnline this is the wrong use in the wrong place.
21 Feb 2023
Asylum seekers move in
Around 70 asylum seekers are moved into the hotel by the Home Office on the planned date despite council opposition.
Sources
- Home Office wants to use The Granby Hotel, Northfleet, to house asylum seekers — KentOnline, Jan 2023
KentOnline reports Gravesham Borough Council leader saying the Home Office plan to use The Granby Hotel in Northfleet for asylum accommodation is the wrong use in the wrong place.
- Leader of Gravesham council concerned about extremist views as Home Office wants to use The Granby Hotel for asylum seekers — KentOnline, Feb 2023
KentOnline reports Gravesham Borough Council raising concerns about worrying social media activity and extremist views in the area as the Home Office prepared to move asylum seekers into The Granby Hotel.
- Asylum seekers set to move into The Granby Hotel in Northfleet, despite concerns from Gravesham council — KentOnline, Feb 2023
KentOnline confirms long-term residents at The Granby were given days notice to leave from late January 2023 before approximately 70 asylum seekers were moved in by the Home Office on 21 February 2023.
- 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.