This 200-year-old hotel, which is worth Rs 26 crore, is being sold for Rs 118, Queen Victoria once stayed here, but owner has put one condition, it is...

A historic hotel in Kettering, Northamptonshire, is set to be auctioned in July for as little as £1, after a property developer ran out of money to complete its renovation. The Royal Hotel, a Grade II-listed 43-bedroom building, was bought in 2020 by Na’im Payman for £2.2 million. He had planned to transform it into a grand wedding venue and nightclub, and had already invested an additional £1 million into the project. However, the plan came to a halt after an investor who had promised further funding pulled out, according to Telegraph.

With no funds left to continue the renovation, Payman has put the property on the market. The hotel will be auctioned online by the auction house Howsold, with a reserve price of just £1. However, the listing warns that the new owner will still need to spend at least £1 million more to make the building usable.

Currently, the Royal Hotel has been stripped down to its basic shell structure and requires major work to be completed. According to the listing, the property is in need of significant restoration before it can serve as a functioning hotel or venue again.

According to the report, the building has a rich history. Originally redeveloped in 1878 in the Jacobaean style by the Duke of Buccleuch, it was later sold in 1896 to the brewing company Pickering, Phipps and Co. Famous author Charles Dickens once stayed there as a young reporter. The hotel gained its current name after Queen Victoria stayed in room 12 in 1844 during her journey to Stamford, Lincolnshire.

In recent times, however, the hotel’s story took a different turn. Between 2022 and 2023, the Royal Hotel was used to house migrants under a government agreement with the Home Office and private contractor Serco. This sparked controversy in the local area. Former Kettering MP Philip Hollobone had openly opposed the decision, saying in 2023 that he “vigorously opposed” placing asylum seekers in the town centre.