Leicester prison could become a hotel

06 September 2019

Leicester’s Victorian prison could be converted into a hotel, a senior council official has suggested.

Planners are preparing for what could happen after the potential closure of the 411 inmate jail in Welford Road, the Leicester Mercury reported.

Although the Ministry of Justice has said there are no plans to shut the category B facility the Government says it is committed to phasing out cramped and ageing city centre prisons and replacing them with modern complexes.

However Leicester City Council says it wants to get ‘ahead of the game’ and has begun drawing up development guidance for key sites for when they become available.

The council’s senior building conservation officer Justin Webber revealed details of the work at a public consultation meeting about the future of the New Walk conservation area in which the prison is situated.

He said: “We are speaking with our design colleagues about - if the prison did close – what could happen.”

Members of the public present at the meeting, on Tuesday night at Holy Trinity Church in Upper King Street, suggested it would likely become student flats.

But Mr Webber said: “Various people have pointed to the former prison in Oxford which is a very good hotel.”

Oxford’s prison closed in 1996 and has subsequently been redeveloped to include a 95-room Malmaison hotel.