Hotel is up for sale after boss rejects £5m asylum offer

THE owner of a seaside hotel says he turned down a “staggering” £5million in an offer to house asylum seekers.

- By James Knuckey

Gary Allen, owner of the Hatters Hotel in Skegness, Lines, said he declined the opportunity to house 54 migrants because “we want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem”.

The 63-year-old, originally from Nottingham, said: “They offered us a staggering amount of money — £563,000 a year, but we turned it down.

Financially, it would've been brilliant. We could have been sat in another country just living it up.”

He decided to sell, claiming the housing of asylum seekers in the town has deterred visitors.