A four-star hotel in the picture postcard village of Datchet near Windsor has opened its doors to asylum seekers who allegedly scream "Allah, Allah" and "Muslim is good" at locals. Residents claim the migrants are committing acts of racism and theft after being put up in the Manor Hotel at taxpayers’ expense.
A local shopkeeper, Abhi, 24, who came to the UK years ago from India, claims some of the asylum seekers from Pakistan and Afghanistan abuse him while he works. He told The Times: "They abuse me because I’m from India and I’m Hindu. "They come in and shout ‘Muslim is good, Allah Allah’. They come in and say, ‘Indians are not good, f*** Hinduism’. It’s f***ing bad. They’re always coming in, taking food, [they] don’t pay. I personally hate it."
The "boutique" 54-room hotel sits in the centre of the village, just a ten-minute stroll from Prince William and Princess Kate's Adelaide Cottage.
It was one of six additional hotels being used to accommodate asylum seekers since Labour formed a government in July 2024. That's despite the Prime Minister's pledge to "smash the people smuggling gangs" that ferry migrants across the English Channel. More than 38,000 are in hotels across the country at a cost of £5.5 million per day.
To make matters worse for Labour, 6,796 migrants have crossed the Channel this year, the most since records began in 2018.
Irene Husbands, 91, had her wedding reception at the hotel in 1962 but said asylum seekers being housed there tarnishes the memory.
She said: “Nobody’s happy around here.
“It shouldn’t be allowed. The hotel’s making a nice lot of money, aren’t they, because the government pays them.”
Despite the hotel being paid to house the migrants, other local firms are struggling as a result. Cheryl Bohdjalian, 58, who owns the Nibbles cafe over the road from the hotel, says business has dried up since guests stopped being admitted to the Manor Hotel.
She told the paper: “We used to get normal hotel guests coming in for breakfast or lunches, that sort of thing. But they [the asylum seekers] don’t contribute anything at all to the village."
