Asylum seekers have been moved out of a hotel in a posh UK market town following backlash from locals, who said their arrival in 2022 had a “real effect” on the area. Banbury became one of many towns across the country to house asylum seekers four years ago, with The Banbury House Hotel repurposed as accommodation for small boat migrants while they waited for their cases to be heard. Resident and local business owner James Douglas, 44, told the Mail that the Oxfordshire town was “not the right place” to house migrants and suggested there had been a “marked drop in tourist footfall” since the change of use.

Ex-soldier Tom Reck, 76, also said the area felt “unsafe” and “a bit frightening even in the daytime with men drinking and shouting”. But the three-star Georgian hotel appears to be turning back into regular tourist accommodation as part of the Government’s pledge to shut down all migrant hotels by 2029, with its foreign residents seen leaving the site on February 18, according to reports.

Asylum seekers based in the pretty Oxfordshire region have since been dispersed into unspecified alternative accommodation, the Oxford Mail reports.

The relocation was presented to occupants on a “no choice” basis under Government plans to close every asylum hotel in favour of “more suitable sites” such as military bases in a bid to cut costs and ease pressure on communities.

Sean Woodcock, Labour MP for Banbury, said: “I am pleased that The Banbury House Hotel has stopped hosting asylum seekers as of this week, as the government’s commitments to reduce the costs of accommodation for asylum seekers is being seen in our local area.

Mr Woodcock added that whilst there is a legal duty to provide asylum seekers with suitable accommodation while their claims are processed, their presence in hotels across the country had created “a number of issues”.

“[Hotels] are not suitable for claimants as long term accommodation and it causes a significant strain on the public finances,” he said.

“Reducing the burden on taxpayers in our community by relocating individuals and families to cheaper alternative accommodation marks a positive step forward in ending the excessive asylum spending and major strain in the system left behind by the previous government.”

Despite Labour’s pledge to tackle hotel use by the end of this parliament, Home Office data showed an increase in the number of asylum seekers being housed in hotels last year, rising from 32,041 in June to 36,273 in September.

The number was also up on the same point in 2024, when there were 35,628 people in migrant hotels.