Imperial Hotel, Hove

The Imperial is a Victorian seaside hotel on First Avenue in Hove. Brighton and Hove News reported that the city had three asylum hotels run by the Home Office: the Imperial, the Langfords and the Albany, each accommodating an average of around 60 people^[2]Press.

The Imperial was used as one of the Hove sites accommodating unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. In June 2023 Brighton and Hove News reported that the Home Office was looking to expand its use of Hove hotels for child refugees, with the Imperial confirmed as one of the active sites^[2]Press.

In December 2022 Brighton and Hove News reported that more than 70 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children had gone missing from Hove hotels including the Imperial, with 30 children going missing from a single site alone since the previous April. The scandal triggered national debate over the use of hotels rather than local authority care for unaccompanied minors and over Sussex Police safeguarding practice^[1]Press.

In August 2025 Brighton and Hove News reported that the City Council had declined to follow Epping Forest in pursuing legal action against asylum hotels in its area, with the Imperial in First Avenue confirmed as one of the Home Office contracted sites in the city^[3]Press.

At the £170 per person per night Migration Observatory benchmark^[4], an average occupancy of 60 children implies headline taxpayer exposure of about £10,200 per night and roughly £3.7 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^[5]NAO.