Holiday Inn Express, Manvers (Rotherham)
The Holiday Inn Express on Manvers Way in Wath-upon-Dearne, near Rotherham, housed asylum seekers and was attacked in the riot of 4 August 2024[1]Press. Rotherham Business News reported on 29 November 2024 a figure of 130 asylum seekers, attributed to John Healey MP; the article does not date the figure[5]Press. More than 700 rioters were estimated at the scene; over 50 police officers were injured and parts of the hotel were set on fire while residents sheltered inside. Rotherham Council later passed a motion describing the attack as a terrorist incident[2]Broadcast. The Home Office later confirmed that it would end its contract with the hotel and would not reoccupy it[5]Press, and by August 2025 the hotel had reopened to the public[6]Press.
Capacity
130
asylum seekers (figure attributed to John Healey MP, reported November 2024; its date is not stated)
Per night
£170
per resident
Annual
£8.1m
per year while in use
Background
The Holiday Inn Express in Manvers sits on the edge of the Manvers Way business park in Wath-upon-Dearne, just outside Rotherham. The area is served by the regional asylum contract for the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber held by Mears Group.
The August 2024 unrest in towns including Rotherham, Tamworth, Hull, Liverpool and Aldershot followed false claims circulated online about the identity of the suspect in the Southport stabbings. The Holiday Inn Express in Manvers became one of the central images of that episode.
The August 2024 riot
On the afternoon of 4 August 2024, a crowd estimated at more than 700 people gathered outside the hotel. Bricks, bottles and other missiles were thrown at the building; windows were smashed, fires were set against external walls, and bins were used as makeshift battering rams. Asylum seekers who were inside at the time later described barricading themselves into rooms while smoke entered the corridors[1]Press. South Yorkshire Police later confirmed that more than 50 officers were injured at the scene.
On 11 September 2024 Rotherham Borough Council passed a cross-party motion that described the attack as a terrorist incident motivated by racial and religious hatred[2]Council. Over 100 people were eventually charged in connection with the disorder, with custodial sentences imposed in the months that followed.
Cost analysis
While it was in use, at the Migration Observatory's £170 per-person per-night benchmark[3], a hotel housing the 130 asylum seekers attributed to John Healey MP represented around £22,100 per night, or approximately £8.1 million per year in headline taxpayer exposure. As with all sites, this is a benchmark on a reported figure, not a settled invoice, and no date has been published for when asylum use began, so no total is calculated. Asylum use ended by the end of November 2024, so that is the annual rate while it was in use and not a running cost.
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
Manvers (130 asylum seekers)
£170
benchmark
UK asylum hotel avg
£170
NAO
Migration Observatory
Yorkshire budget hotel
£65
commercial
Hostel bed
£30
commercial
The May 2025 NAO report on accommodation contracts confirmed that 222 hotels were in use in 2024/25 with a combined contract bill of approximately £1.296 billion[4]NAO, implying an average per-hotel exposure of £5.8 million per year, close to the formula above.
Timeline
Timeline
Earlier
Operates as a commercial Holiday Inn Express on Manvers Way
4 Aug 2024
Major riot at the hotel
Crowd of 700+; 50+ officers injured; sections of the hotel set alight.
11 Sep 2024
Rotherham Council motion
Council formally describes the attack as a terrorist incident.
29 Nov 2024
Home Office to end the contract
A letter from the minister to the local MP said the Home Office would terminate the contract with the hotel and not reoccupy it. The article gives no date for when residents left.
2 Aug 2025
Hotel open again
The Sheffield Tribune reported that the hotel had reopened and the asylum seekers had been moved out.
Sources
- Rotherham riot: everything we know about the violence at asylum seeker hotel · The Star (Sheffield), Aug 2024
Reports the 4 August 2024 riot outside the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers, Wath-upon-Dearne, with 700+ rioters, 50+ officers injured, and the hotel set ablaze.
- Council passes motion labelling asylum hotel riot a terrorist attack · ITV Calendar, Sep 2024
Reports Rotherham Council passed a motion describing the August 2024 attack on the Holiday Inn Express in Manvers as a terrorist attack.
- 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.
- Home Office to end its contract for the Rotherham asylum hotel at Manvers · Rotherham Business News, 29 Nov 2024
Quotes a letter from the minister to John Healey MP saying the Home Office will be terminating the contract with the Holiday Inn Express at Manvers and will not be re-occupying the hotel. It gives no date for when residents left. It also gives a figure of 130 asylum seekers, attributed to John Healey MP, who had raised it earlier; the article does not date the figure.
- One year on from the Manvers riot · Sheffield Tribune, 2 Aug 2025
A year after the 4 August 2024 riot, reports that the Holiday Inn at Manvers is open again and the asylum seekers have been moved out. It gives no move-out date and no numbers.