THE NEWS that Horsham is shortly to have not one but two new large town centre budget hotels has been greeted with unbridled enthusiasm by councillors on both sides of the political divide.
Add to this the council's recent decision to lease the Old Town Hall to a prospective restaurateur and one is prompted to question the future of Horsham's former historic flagship hotel, the King's Head, which closed its doors in 2004 and which re
mains firmly boarded up.
Whether Horsham can attract sufficient business and family custom to warrant two additional hotels offering a total of 150 bedroom accommodation remains to be seen, especially when our national economy is in the doldrums and looks like remaining so for the foreseeable future.
The proposed hotels may provide some employment in the short-term but will they really have a viable future when our neighbour, Crawley, is chock-a-block with hotels of every shape and size?
Some of your readers will recall that the Black Horse Hotel shut up shop in the 1960s due to lack of patronage. And the more recent closure of the King's Head should act as a warning of possible things to come.
So our local councillors' celebratory mood may be premature, unless of course they know something we don't – like the probable expansion of Gatwick, perhaps?
ROBERT B. WORLEY
Ayshe Court Drive, Horsham
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