Novotel Ipswich Centre, Greyfriars Road
The Novotel Ipswich Centre on Greyfriars Road is a 101-room four-star town centre hotel owned by Fairview Hotels. From October 2022 it was closed to the paying public and used by the Home Office for asylum dispersal under a Serco regional contract. Around 70 asylum seekers were already living at the hotel by the time Ipswich Borough Council took the case to the High Court[1]Broadcast.
Capacity
101
rooms
Per night
£170
per resident
Annual
£6.3m
estimated
Background
The Novotel Ipswich Centre is a four-star Accor branded hotel on Greyfriars Road in central Ipswich. The site has 101 bedrooms and is part of the Fairview Hotels portfolio, which also owns the Novotel Stevenage. From October 2022 the hotel was withdrawn from public booking and used as contingency asylum accommodation under the Home Office Asylum Accommodation and Support Services contract held by Serco in the East of England[1]Broadcast.
Ipswich Borough Council injunction
In late October 2022 Ipswich Borough Council obtained a without notice interim injunction against the use of the Novotel for asylum dispersal, on the basis that the change of use breached planning control. At the on notice hearing in November 2022, Mr Justice Holgate refused to extend the injunction, finding that the factors in favour of discharging it clearly outweighed those in favour of continuing it. Around 70 asylum seekers were by then already at the hotel[1]Broadcast[3]Press.
The Ipswich case ran in parallel with similar bids by Stoke-on-Trent, East Riding of Yorkshire and Great Yarmouth in autumn 2022. All four interim injunctions were ultimately overturned, and the contracts proceeded. Ipswich MP Tom Hunt also raised the Novotel arrangement in the House of Commons in November 2022[2]GOV.UK.
Exit announcement and closure
On 24 October 2023 immigration minister Robert Jenrick named the Novotel Ipswich in a Commons statement as one of the first 50 asylum hotels the Home Office would exit, with the first departures beginning within days and completing by the end of January 2024. The East Anglian Daily Times reported the announcement and quoted local response from Ipswich MP Tom Hunt and Suffolk Refugee Support[4]Press.
The Novotel returned to commercial bookings in 2024 and is now trading openly to paying guests through Accor and the major travel platforms.
Cost analysis
At the £170 per person per night Migration Observatory benchmark[5], a 101 room hotel run at full asylum occupancy implies headline taxpayer exposure of about £17,170 per night and roughly £6.3 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[6]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
Novotel Ipswich (closed)
£170
closed-period benchmark
UK asylum hotel avg
£170
NAO
Ipswich budget hotel
£55
commercial
Hostel bed
£30
commercial
Timeline
Timeline
Pre-2022
Operates as a commercial four-star Novotel in central Ipswich
Oct 2022
Closed to paying guests for asylum use
Home Office contracts the hotel via Serco for dispersal accommodation.
Oct 2022
Council seeks interim injunction
Ipswich Borough Council obtains a without notice High Court order against the asylum use of the hotel.
Nov 2022
Injunction refused
Mr Justice Holgate declines to extend the temporary injunction. Around 70 asylum seekers are already at the hotel.
Nov 2022
Raised in Parliament
Ipswich MP Tom Hunt secures a Commons debate on the Novotel arrangement.
Oct 2023
Named in Jenrick exit statement
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick names the Novotel Ipswich among the first 50 asylum hotels the Home Office will exit.
Jan 2024
Asylum use ends
Departures complete; hotel returns to commercial bookings.
Sources
- Ipswich Borough Council loses legal fight to stop Novotel hotel from housing asylum seekers — ITV News Anglia, Nov 2022
ITV News Anglia report on the November 2022 High Court ruling that refused to extend Ipswich Borough Council's interim injunction against the use of the Novotel on Greyfriars Road for asylum accommodation, with around 70 asylum seekers already living at the four-star hotel.
- Asylum Accommodation: Novotel Ipswich — Hansard / UK Parliament, Nov 2022
House of Commons debate on the use of the Novotel Ipswich for asylum accommodation, raised by Ipswich MP Tom Hunt, including references to the local injunction case and concerns about the impact on the town centre.
- High Court refuses to extend interim injunctions stopping hotels from accommodating asylum seekers — Local Government Lawyer, Nov 2022
Reports Mr Justice Holgate's November 2022 ruling refusing to extend the interim injunctions obtained by Ipswich Borough Council and Great Yarmouth Borough Council against the Home Office over hotels used for asylum accommodation, alongside the parallel Stoke-on-Trent case.
- Ipswich Novotel to end use housing asylum seekers — East Anglian Daily Times, Oct 2023
East Anglian Daily Times coverage of immigration minister Robert Jenrick's 24 October 2023 Commons statement naming the Novotel Ipswich as one of the first 50 asylum hotels the Home Office would exit, with departures completing by the end of January 2024.
- 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.