Inside Britain's migrant hotels: Asylum seekers enjoy four-poster beds, video games consoles, a buffet-style canteen, music lessons and consume alcohol and drugs in their rooms

Daily Mail​

6 days ago

Footage purportedly filmed inside a migrant hotel has revealed a luxurious set-up including four-poster beds, a buffet-style canteen and rooms containing video consoles and jewellery.
The video, reportedly filmed inside a hotel in West Sussex that is housing hundreds of asylum seekers, also showed piles of empty lager cans and evidence of drug consumption.
Aston Knight, who claims to have worked in the hotel as a contractor, said he shot the footage between October and December 2024.
He is seen going from room to room with a camera commenting on what he finds.
In one room, he reveals what appears to be cannabis, alongside gold jewellery and gadgets including a PlayStation 5s and Apple computers.
In the canteen, staff are seen serving breakfast to residents from food warmers containing beans, hash browns, cooked tomatoes and hard-boiled eggs. One resident has 10 eggs on his plate.
Mr Knight also films landline phones that appear to be set to allow international calls, and men enjoying music lessons and games of cricket in the car park.
The YouTuber, from Bedfordshire, said: 'I was absolutely shocked at the level of luxury. It was something I didn't expect.
'The mainstream media made out like this was some sort of hell, but I was amazed by the level of food waste and luxury.
'It's changed my opinion on migrant hotels. I used to be supportive of them.'
Social media users were outraged by the footage, although some pointed out that not all migrant hotels would be so luxurious.
The continuing use of hotels to house asylum seekers has become a major focus of public anger, with more protests taking place outside sites across England over the weekend.
The recent string of flare-ups began with a demonstration outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, after Ethiopian man Hadush Kebatu was charged with sexually assaulting a schoolgirl just days after he arrived in Britain in a Channel dinghy.
Currently, 32,000 asylum seekers are housed in hotels at a cost of £3 billion per year.
Ministers have vowed to end their use by the next election, but critics are sceptical.
On Friday, the Home Office said asylum seekers face being made homeless if they refuse orders by officials to move out of hotels into alternative accommodation.
Around 100 asylum seekers refuse to move accommodation each week, and ministers currently have no powers to force them.
Under the Conservatives, the Government threatened to remove housing and support from those who refused to move to the Bibby Stockholm barge, which is no longer in use.
Labour's new plan will mirror the Tory rules, but will be applied more widely to other forms of accommodation.
The 'firm but fair' policy is part of the Government's drive to end the use of expensive hotels to house asylum seekers.
It comes as two more men were charged with violent disorder following a protest outside The Bell Hotel in Epping.
Phillip Curson, 52, and Martin Peagram, 33, are due to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.
Essex Police had previously sought to speak to the two in relation to the protest outside The Bell Hotel on July 17.
The protest began peacefully but escalated into what officers described as 'scattered incidents of violence' targeting police and property.
The force previously said a small number of people used that demonstration as cover to commit violent disorder and criminal damage.
Eight officers were injured and a number of police vehicles were damaged as missiles were thrown.