Phoenix Hotel in Epping to be cleared of asylum seekers

Asylum seekers being moved from Essex hotel Image source, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service Image caption, A fire at the Phoenix Hotel in March 2025 damaged 25% of the building By Shivani Chaudhari Essex Published 2 hours ago All asylum seekers living at a hotel in Essex will be moved out "over the coming weeks", the local council has said. The Phoenix Hotel on the A414 near North Weald has been used by the Home Office in recent years. Chris Whitbread, the Conservative leader at Epping Forest District Council, said he was "delighted" to hear the news and said the hotel never met the "basic requirements" to be asylum accommodation. The Home Office was contacted for comment. "We have always argued that placing vulnerable individuals in isolated rural areas or small communities like the Phoenix Hotel without comprehensive support services or proper infrastructure is reckless and fails both the local community and the asylum seekers," said Whitbread. "At last, I can now say to our community there are no hotels in the Epping Forest district used to house asylum seekers." Migrants were also moved out of the Bell Hotel in Epping earlier this summer. The site became the centre point of protests after an asylum seeker living at the hotel was arrested and later jailed for sexual assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman. In April this year, another asylum seeker was jailed for deliberately starting fires at both the Phoenix Hotel and the Bell Hotel . Image source, Reuters Image caption, The Bell Hotel in Epping was the scene of angry protests over the summer of 2025 Epping Forest District Council said the news of the removal at the Phoenix came as a surprise and Whitbread said he was "deeply disappointed" the Home Office did not "communicate with us in a timely manner". All occupants had been notified and would be relocated to other parts of the asylum estate, the council added. Ready Homes - a subsidiary of Clearsprings Ready Homes Ltd which provides the housing on the government's behalf - was also approached for comment. Do you have a story suggestion for Essex? Contact us below. Get in touch Your Voice Contact form Contact form Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds , Facebook , external , Instagram , external and X , external . Related topics Epping Refugees and asylum seekers North Weald More on this story Protests leave asylum seekers afraid to exit hotel Published 26 July 2025 Asylum hotel provider makes £180m profit despite claims of inedible food and rationed loo paper Published 7 October 2025 Hotel that caught fire was housing asylum seekers Published 31 March 2025 Related internet links Epping Forest District Council