Mercure Burton upon Trent Newton Park Hotel

The Newton Park Hotel sits in a rural plot at Newton Solney just outside Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire, with a Grade II listed Georgian country house at its core and modern bedroom extensions. Until 2021 it traded as a posh wedding and conference venue under the Mercure brand.

Staffordshire Live reported in November 2021 that the government had taken over the four star Mercure Newton Park Hotel to house asylum seekers, with the property booked out in its entirety for at least three months. Customers and event organisers were told their bookings had been cancelled with no further explanation^[1]Press.

East Staffordshire Borough Council issued a joint partner statement responding to the Home Office decision to disperse asylum seekers locally, confirming agency engagement at the Newton Park site and noting that the council had not been the decision maker^[2]GOV.UK.

Yahoo News UK regional aggregation reported in April 2024 that more than 100 asylum seekers were being moved out of the Mercure Burton Newton Park Hotel by the end of that month, ending a multi-year contract that had repeatedly been extended beyond the initial three month booking^[3]Press.

In January 2025 Boutique Hotelier reported that the closed country house hotel in Burton upon Trent had hit the market for £2.5 million, with the listing confirming that the Grade II listed Mercure Newton Park property had ceased hospitality trading after its asylum accommodation use^[4]Press.

At the £170 per person per night Migration Observatory benchmark^[5]and a peak headcount of around 100 residents, headline taxpayer exposure runs at roughly £17,000 per night and about £6.2 million per year of contract value. That is broadly in line with the May 2025 NAO contract review average of about £5.84 million per year per hotel^[6]NAO.