Homeless hotel sees 249 police calls in five years

Ian Milligan says he organised a meeting to discuss the hotel to ensure community concerns were being taken seriously

Police were called 249 times over the last five years to attend a hotel used to house homeless people, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed.

The privately owned NR19 Hotel in Dereham, Norfolk, is used by Breckland Council as temporary accommodation.

Norfolk Police, which drew the FOI data from between January 2020 and September 2025, said 47 of the calls related to concerns for safety and 44 were around violence against a person.

The BBC contacted the owners of the hotel's building by letter, but they did not respond to a request for comment.

Norfolk Police's figures show officers were called to the hotel 16 times in 2020, 19 times in 2021, 35 times in 2022, 47 times in 2023, 59 times in 2024 and 73 times so far this year.

The use of the hotel and issues relating to its contact with police will be discussed at a community meeting on 3 December at Dereham Town Football Club, which will be attended by representatives from Norfolk Police, Breckland Council and Dereham Town Council.

Ian Milligan, 57, who lives in Dereham and organised the meeting, said he wanted to bring people together to ensure the community's concerns were being taken seriously.

Mr Milligan said he felt the vulnerable people living at NR19 were not being given the support they needed and as a result their behaviour was having a negative impact on the town.

"I've had business or potential business owners saying they want to expand their business, looking at properties in Dereham, seeing this, talking to other shopkeepers and making a decision not to come here," he said.

Carol Clarke says some of the hotel's residents have come into the shop intoxicated which can be "quite scary"

Carol Clarke, who works at the newsagent's Dereham News in the town, said her husband refuses to let her walk to work early in the morning because she would have to walk past the hotel.

"We've had ones that are either off their faces with drugs or alcohol.

"They come in... it can be quite scary," she said.

Anti-social behaviour connected to the NR19 Hotel was first discussed at a Dereham Town Council meeting on 11 November.

The hotel has 11 rooms but none are available for the public to book.

Like all local authorities, Breckland Council has a statutory obligation to take reasonable steps to prevent or relieve homelessness for a person eligible for support.

Breckland Council said it was reducing the use of temporary accommodation such as NR19 Hotel and has built its own properties to use as homeless accommodation.

Insp Simon Jones, from Norfolk Police, said: "We are aware of concerns around anti-social behaviour linked to temporary accommodation in Dereham.

"The community in this area will continue to see high-visibility patrols in Dereham town centre, including evenings and weekends, to provide reassurance and support to the night-time economy."

A spokesperson for Breckland Council said: "We have an expectation that all residents behave in an appropriate way, but when there are instances when that is not the case, we work closely with police, the landlord, and other partners to tackle crime and support community cohesion.

"Our use of this type of accommodation has reduced considerably over the last year."