Wards Hotel in Folkestone will remain open after Earlscliffe School withdraws from sale

The owners of a struggling hotel planned to be turned into a boarding school say they are determined to make it a success after the sale suddenly fell through.

Father and son Raj and Amar Gokhool were “surprised and disappointed” after plans to turn their venue Wards Hotel into a school were canceled earlier this month.

Bosses at Earlscliffe School in Folkestone appealed to the council Converting a 10-bed hotel into a hostel for private students.

However, immediately after the application is approved school withdrawn from plans.

Now the hotel’s owners, Raj and Amar Gokhool, have announced that they will keep the business open and are “determined to make it a success.”

The duo say that although they were shocked by the school’s decision to leave, they now see it as a “growth opportunity.”

The family have owned the Folkestone hotel for the past five years and say it has become increasingly difficult to keep it afloat since Covid.

“We don’t want this hotel to become an eyesore for our town,” said Raj, 65.

“That’s why we will expend energy in bringing the issue back to the agenda.

“The only reason we stepped back for the last few months was because of the school’s plans.

“It’s been an incredibly difficult few years. So when the school approached us we thought it would be best to cut our losses.

“Before Covid, all of our outside benches, our restaurant area, and our rooms were fully occupied.

“We are determined to restore it to its former state”

Amar, 38, described how the “hidden” hotel could easily be overlooked by many in the town.

He added: “It is quite difficult for us to capture the local footsteps visiting the town and the harbor arm. We think what we plan to offer here could attract people to this part of the city.

“Our focus now shifts towards making a personal investment in the hotel and improving our services.”

A new wellness program will begin in 2025, which will also include yoga and pilates sessions.

The owners also plan to host ‘date nights’ with live piano music on Thursday evenings. They also say they will be introducing a new takeaway menu that will be available on Just Eat.

The hotel is located 160 meters from the main campus of Earlscliffe on Shorncliffe Road, an independent sixth-form college for international students aged 15-19.

According to original planning documents submitted by Lee Tattum, student immigration manager at Dukes Education, which runs the school, the hotel owners had deemed the venue “unviable as a business”.

Mr Tattum said the hotel was “operating at a loss” and there was a “decline in trade”.

Earlier this month planning officers at Folkestone and Hythe District Council voted unanimously in favor of the plans. However, the new school principal later confirmed that the sale would no longer go ahead.

Mark Love, who took over in September, said: “One of the first things I did as the newly appointed headteacher at Earlscliffe was to examine the school’s existing property.

“We have many excellent buildings in Folkestone. I have visited each of them and found that they provide exactly what our students need in terms of boarding and educational opportunities.

“Secondly, combined with the creation of a new space for our art department, it led me to conclude that there is no need at this time for the school to acquire an additional building.”

Wards Hotel is a three-star Edwardian hotel dating back to 1901. It has a 4.5 rating on Tripadvisor and rooms start from £55 per night.