The Waverley Hotel to go up for auction after housing asylum seekers

The Waverley Hotel in Whitehaven closed as accommodation for asylum seekers earlier this year following a pledge by the government to close migrant hotels.

The Tangier Street building had been housing asylum seekers since September 2022 following a deal between the hotel owners and Serco, which provides accommodation for immigrants while their asylum is processed.

But the government announced plans to start exiting asylum hotels last year as part of wider efforts to tackle illegal migration.  

A bedroom inside The Waverley Hotel in Whitehaven (Image: SDL Property Auctions)

Asylum seekers who were being housed in The Waverley Hotel were dispersed to areas around Lancashire and Cumbria.

The 21-bedroom former hotel with restaurant and bar will now go up for auction and is being marketed by SDL Property Auctions based in Nottingham.

The auction company say the ‘once thriving business offers masses of potential to become a real hub of the local community as a hotel again or could have a number of uses subject to necessary planning permissions’.

Inside one of the 21 bedrooms at The Waverley Hotel in Whitehaven (Image: SDL Property Auctions)

Joseph Ghayouba, who represents Bransty on Cumberland Council, said: "My only hope is that we don't get yet another absent landlord who leaves their property to sit empty and derelict. It's a fantastic premises with great potential."

Edwin Dinsdale, who represents Whitehaven Central South on the town council, said: “It would be brilliant if it could reopen as a hotel. That would be my preference. It ran for years as a hotel.

“My second preference would be BEC taking it on, with them already owning the Whittles building. BEC brining it all together as one would be fantastic.”

A bathroom inside The Waverley Hotel (Image: SDL Property Auctions)

The auction on May 30 will be broadcast live online and is open to remote bidding online. Registration for bidding will close at 5pm the day before the auction.

For more information contact SDL Property Auctions on 08000 465454.