Plans for 60-bed hotel at Warwick Castle officially submitted

A planning application for a hotel at Warwick Castle has been officially submitted.

In December 2021, Warwick Castle announced its plans for a hotel had resurfaced - with it previously being mentioned in its masterplan for the site in 2019.

A public consultation - including drop-in events and a way to submit views online - was also held in December.

An application has now been submitted to Warwick District Council, which if given the go ahead would see a 60-bedroom hotel built in bay nine/10 of the main Stratford Road car park.

The plans also include an extension to the current Knight’s Village restaurant so that it would also provide food for the hotel.

The castle also plans to build an elevated walkway to connect the hotel with the restaurant.

In the documents the castle said in 2019 it had more than 700,000 visitors and that it needs to continue to invest to continue to be successful - and that it can be done via a hotel on the site.

Accommodation at the castle is not a new concept - with glamping and the Knight's lodges and two restored rooms in Caesar’s Tower.

According to the plans, the amount of vistors staying overnight at the castle has increased but capacity is limited so a hotel would address this. The castle also said that having a hotel would encourage more people to spend time in Warwick town centre.

Many residents have raised concerns about the planned hotel.

One Warwick resident, who has spoken to many others in the area, said: "We do not think that the plans have been very well publicised and the time allowed to object is very limited.

"The objections that have already been raised are fairly representative of the opinion of people I have spoken to in the neighbourhood, namely that the development will take business from hotels and restaurants in the town and keep any visitors to the castle on site and not benefit the town in general.

"In addition, there will be environmental damage cause by developing buildings in woodland and light and noise pollution which will be detrimental to the local wildlife.

"Surely, if the castle thinks this is a great thing for the town, it would have been widely publicised and locals invited to promotional events to show that it is not just another money spinning venture for the benefit of Merlin."

Nick Blofeld, divisional director at Warwick Castle said: "We are pleased to have submitted the full hotel planning application now, after running the public consultation sessions in December.

"The latter provided some useful feedback, which we have factored into the plans, and a good amount of support for the project.

"The lodges in our “Knight’s Village” have now settled in very well and our core, young family audience means that we have had virtually no issues with noise or anything similar since they opened back in the summer of 2016, we expect the hotel to be as popular with our guests."

The plans for the hotel do have some objections as well as some supporting comments.

To view the plans or to make a comment search: W/22/0140 on Warwick District Council's planning portal.

A separate planning application was also submitted towards the end of 2021 for the relocation of the castle's overflow car park, which is used when the Stratford Road and Stables car parks are full.

It would move the current Leafields parking further west to the next field away from the River Avon so it would then be located near a wooded area known as Foxes Study and according to the plans, the former car park site would then be returned to 'open parkland'.

This application is still awaiting a decision.