ASYLUM seekers have left a York hotel after being accommodated there for almost a year of the pandemic.

Up to 90 stayed at the Mercure York Fairfield Manor Hotel on the A19 at Skelton but have now been moved on to suitable dispersed accommodation across the region, and the hotel has reopened to guests.

City of York Council announced last July that York would offer a safe refuge to up to 90 asylum seekers affected by movement restrictions due to Covid-19, whilst decisions on each individual’s claim for asylum were processed by the Home Office. It said the Government was funding the accommodation.

The hotel can now be identified for the first time by The Press after the Home Office and York council requested last year for its name to be withheld, because of concerns about the potential impact on vulnerable people staying there.

Skelton Parish Council complained last summer that a "veil of secrecy" had been thrown over the asylum seekers' arrival.

Parish chair Joe Watt said yesterday there was initial annoyance that nobody considered it appropriate to inform it that many male asylum seekers were to be housed in the hotel.

However, incidents that arose in the early days were rapidly dealt with by police and Mears, the housing and social care provider, resulting in the situation "quickly settling into a matter of no justified concern".

He said: “Generally, throughout the period the asylum seekers were here, there was virtually no adverse effect on our community." He said he was pleasantly surprised by the reaction of residents he spoke to. “Most were sympathetic to the plight of the men. Occasionally, asylum seekers would be seen in small groups drinking beer. However, those I saw on the Skelton Pasture were minding their own business and they took their empty cans away, more than I can say for some locals. Overall, the early fears were unfounded and the stay of asylum seekers in our community was hardly noticed.”

A spokesperson for Mears, which handled their stay, said hotels had been used across the UK as accommodation for asylum seekers during the pandemic and this continued in some areas. “A hotel in the York area was being used for a time and this ended in June, with all service users now moved on to suitable dispersed accommodation in the Yorkshire, North East and Humber contract area,” he added.

A hotel spokesperson confirmed that a "long term group booking" in place had come to an end and the hotel was now running as usual and open to all guests.