A local business owner has revealed to GB News that he was “offered a load of money” to turn his hotel into migrant accommodation – but flatly refused the offer because of the horror stories he had heard.
When Gez Chetal, 57, from Peterborough, took over the Thomas Paine Hotel in 2013, it was a derelict Grade II listed building consisting of three 18th-century cottages with a Victorian frontage.
Spending £1.5million on renovating the hotel in the market town of Thetford, it’s now a thriving business, boasting 11 uniquely decorated rooms and a brasserie restaurant.
It has also become a mecca for Americans, who come to pay homage to the birthplace of Thomas Paine – an 18th-century political activist and revolutionary who emigrated to America and became one of the Founding Fathers.
The hotel was featured on Channel 4’s Four in a Bed in 2016.
The hotelier claims the Home Office offered to lease his business for up to four years
Gez Chetal
Chetal had built something enduring for tourists and locals alike. Then, three years ago, he was offered the opportunity to take his business in a different direction.
“I was offered a load of money to close my hotel in Thetford for migrants,” he told GB News.
The hotelier claims the Home Office offered to lease his business for up to four years.
“They will lease the whole place and pay you rent, so there’s loads of taxes you don’t have to pay,” he claimed.
As he explains, “you’ve got your money upfront – and it’s guaranteed money”, so many business owners bite their arm off.
However, for Chetal, it was an easy answer.
“I said no not at all. I know loads of people who did do it and then when they got them back they were crying because it was going to cost them a fortune to put them back to normal,” he told GB News.
He cites the Dragonfly Hotel in Peterborough as a glaring example. Up to 146 male asylum seekers were moved into the 70-bedroom hotel near the Rowing Lake in Thorpe Meadows on November 14.
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In Covid, when the hospitality sector shut down, Chetal turned his hotel over to the homeless
Gez Chetal
“You’ve got a hotel with a rowing lake. Beautiful. I used to be general manager there 20 years ago,” he said.
“Fast forward to the present, and all the houses around there are struggling with their prices now,” Chetal tells GB News, adding: “They can’t sell their houses because nobody wants to move into opposite a hotel which has got 140 migrants. The people are frightened.”
The Home Office has refused to confirm if the Dragonfly Hotel in Peterborough is still being used to house asylum seekers.
Chetal is keen to stress that he has “nothing against any migrants whatsoever because we need them in this country to work because our lot is not working. We’ve got skill shortages. We’ve got manpower shortages”.
Indeed, the Thomas Paine hotel owner has gone above and beyond to help the dispossessed, setting up Prismstart – a scheme to get ex-offenders, the homeless and the vulnerable back into work.
In Covid, when the hospitality sector shut down, Chetal turned his hotel over to the homeless.
“I said no problem at all, so I gave it to them for free. Then, after about 10 days, they said can you keep them permanently until we sort Covid out? And so they paid me for it.”
He also had the Danish army staying with him for the last 14 months to train Ukrainian soldiers.
However, turning his business into a migrant hotel is a different proposition altogether.
As Chetal explains, his hotel is a “hub” for the community. It serves as a wedding venue, meeting space and a dining experience.
In addition to helping the homeless and getting ex-offenders back into work, Chetal has used the venue to give talks to local schools and colleges.
“All these people would have lost out if I had turned it into a migrant hotel,” he told GB News, adding: “I’d be the biggest idiot if I cut my nose off to fill my bank. I am not doing it.”
GB News has approached the Home Office for comment.