King's / Queen's Bench Division of the High Court

KB-2025-002908 - [2025] EWHC 2937 (KB)

Fecha: 11-Nov-2025

The Bell hotel, its location and current use

The Bell hotel, its location and current use

The Defendant is the registered freehold proprietor of the Bell. Prior to its closure under COVID-19 restrictions in March 2020, the hotel had 80 guest bedrooms (51 double rooms, 6 twin bedded rooms, 14 triple rooms and 9 quadruple rooms), two conference/function rooms, two meeting rooms, a reception area, and a bar and restaurant with associated parking. Staff accommodation and hotel bedrooms were located in three detached two-storey wings to the north and north-east of the main reception building. The site is approximately 1.5 hectares in area. The Bell’s principal elevation faces onto the High Road, with the hotel building being set back from the road frontage itself. There is a large hard surfaced forecourt which give access to the public highway. There is a car parking area to the side of the hotel building.

10.

Prior to closure in March 2020 the hotel was staffed on a 24/7 basis. There were up to 14 members of staff on duty during the day and evening. There was a night porter on duty out-of-hours and throughout the night.

11.

The Bell is situated approximately 1.3 kilometres to the south east of Epping town centre. It lies within the Metropolitan Green Belt and the Bell Common Conservation Area. Bell Common itself is a substantial area of well vegetated open space lying to the south of the High Road and opposite the Bell. The Bell Common Conservation Area Character Appraisal records that the Bell and the small group of neighbouring residential properties are open to the High Road. Most of the trees on Bell Common are set well back from the High Road, a characteristic which “gives the area an open, spacious quality”.

12.

The five schools to which the Claimant refers in its claim form are as follows –

(1)

Epping St John’s School, a Church of England co-educational school attended by approximately 1,050 students aged between 11 and 18. The school is situated about 800 metres from the Bell.

(2)

Ivy Chimneys Primary School, a co-educational school attended by approximately 315 children. The school is situated about 1 kilometre from the Bell.

(3)

Epping Primary School, a co-educational school attended by approximately 400 children. The school is situated about 1.6 kilometres from the Bell.

(4)

Coopersale Hall School, an independent co-educational day school attended by approximately 280 children aged between two and a half and 16 years. The school is situated about 2.2 kilometres from the Bell.

(5)

Theydon Garnon Church of England Primary School, a co-educational school attended by approximately 190 children. The school is situated about 3.8 kilometres from the Bell.

13.

The Claimant also refers to Wensley House Residential Home, which is located approximately 480 metres from the Bell, on Theydon Road. This is a residential care home which provides care for all ages in the categories of old age, dementia, mental disorder, sensory impairment, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease and other mental and physical disabilities.

14.

The Defendant does not itself carry out the day-to-day operation of the Bell as accommodation for asylum seekers. The Bell is operated for that purpose by Corporate Travel Management (North) Limited [“CTM”] in performance of a contract made between the Home Secretary and CTM, under the terms of which CTM as a registered Home Office service provider, provides contingency accommodation for asylum seekers at hotels. By a contract dated 24 March 2025, for an initial term of 12 months ending on 24 March 2026, the Defendant has agreed to provide CTM with exclusive use of the Bell for that contractual period for the purpose of short-term accommodation for asylum seekers.