The suspected number of asylum seekers staying at a hotel near Earley has been disclosed.
The Best Western Moat House Hotel in Sindlesham is within walking distance of Lower Earley and has been used to house asylum seekers while their claims are processed.
Hotels have been used to house asylum seekers since March 2020, as a measure during the coronavirus pandemic.
Responsibility for accommodating asylum seekers in the UK sits with the Home Office, which has a legal duty to house people who would otherwise be destitute.
The policy was instituted by then Conservative home secretary Priti Patel and immigration minister Kevin Foster.
According to Home Office data, there were 252 asylum seekers in hotels in Wokingham Borough in September 2025.
Meanwhile, there are 10 asylum seekers in other forms of accommodation in the borough, which include homes of multiple occupation.
There are 129 hotel rooms at the Best Western in Sindlesham.
The hotel has been the subject of controversy, as Iranian rapist Amin Abedi Mofrad was placed there during his court case.
Mofrad was sentenced to nine years and six months in prison for raping a 15-year-old girl at the Westgate shopping centre in Oxford in February 2024.
He was staying at a hotel in Oxford at the time of the attack.
The Moat House has been visited by self-described 'auditor' content creators who go to hotels which are being used as asylum seeker accommodation, and often get into confrontations with security staff.
Content creators who have been to the Moat House include 'TruthHurts101UK' and 'L Audits'.
The presence of the asylum seekers at the hotel has been a cause of concern for the community in Lower Earley.
Question over legal use of hotel to house asylum seeker who raped teen
Councillor Pauline Jorgensen (Conservative, Hillside), the leader of the opposition at Wokingham Borough Council, mentioned that people had raised concerns about “asylum hotel residents harassing girls” on the doorstep.
She mentioned this in a post while canvassing with Conservative activists in the Hillside ward on Saturday, February 7.
Caroline Smith, a Liberal Democrat councillor for Hillside elected in 2023 will be defending her seat in the local elections in May.
Cllr Smith introduced a motion at a full council meeting in July 2023 announcing that the borough aspires to become a 'Borough of Sanctuary' to welcome people fleeing war and persecution in their home countries.
At the time, she said: “We recognise the potential contribution of asylum seekers and refugees to our Borough, and believe that a comprehensive, co-ordinated and forward-looking approach that promotes community cohesion is the best way to ensure the welfare of people moving into the Borough.
“We note and regret the suffering of refugees in the Home Office-sanctioned accommodation in our Borough.
“Their treatment is incompatible with ourvalues and values common to humanity.”
The motion was passed at the meeting.
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