Nayland Rock Hotel

[Nayland Rock Hotel] is a Victorian-era seafront property located on Royal Crescent in Margate. As tourist numbers fell in the late 1990s, the property was contracted by the UK Home Office to serve as government initial accommodation for newly arrived asylum seekers beginning in 2000.

Context & Operations: The hotel served as a migrant facility for several years under contracts with Migrant Helpline. In 2007, a leaked Home Office plan to convert the building into a secure deportation holding centre was met with fierce opposition from local council leadership and the local MP (Sir Roger Gale). They successfully argued that placing an open prison on a prime regeneration seafront was entirely inappropriate, and the deportation plan was abandoned.

Closure: The site ceased operating as a commercial business and an active asylum hotel in 2008. It has since been used periodically for student accommodation and as a film location, with recent redevelopment plans proposing its conversion into residential flats and short-stay apartments.