A fire that broke out at the Grand Burstin Hotel in Folkestone, Kent, forcing the evacuation of around 280 people in the early hours, is being treated as suspicious by police. The blaze, believed to have started deliberately in the basement of the seafront hotel, prompted a major emergency response and comes amid heightened public attention on the Britannia Hotels-owned building because of its past use to house asylum seekers.

Kent Fire and Rescue Service sent 26 fire engines and a specialist height vehicle to the scene at around 1.05am on Saturday, with ten engines remaining overnight as crews tackled hotspots; no fire-related injuries have been reported. Guests described a chaotic scramble outside in freezing conditions before being taken into a nearby pub and later a council-run welfare centre at Three Hills Sports Park, with one guest telling of hearing explosions and losing his passport in the escape. The hotel previously housed around 130 asylum seekers in 2014, a move criticised at the time by then-MP Damian Collins, though police have not linked that history to a motive and are appealing for witnesses.