Hotel to stop hosting asylum seekers

The Lion Hotel in Shrewsbury will cease hosting asylum seekers from July

A hotel in Shrewsbury is set to stop accommodating asylum seekers after almost almost two years.

The Lion Hotel on Wyle Cop, is one of a number of hotels around the country the government has said it no longer needs.

Since asylum seekers started arriving in November 2022, they have attracted protests and, in April 2023, a man got a suspended sentence after admitting causing racially aggravated criminal damage there.

In a letter to the town's MP, Daniel Kawczynski, the Home Office confirmed the last of the guests will leave by the start of July.

It also said the use of hotels had been a "short-term measure".

The move comes after the government said it had been able to establish "more appropriate forms of asylum accommodation, including large sites, such as former military sites and barges".