A hotel that closed due to falling trade and growing competition has been placed on the market.

The Kingswell Hotel in Harwell is up for sale for £2m after being granted permission to turn its site into 17 residential apartments.

According to planning agents Pegasus Group, the hotel near Didcot was no longer “a viable business due to increasing inflation and energy costs.

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The main hotel building currently comprises 20 en-suite bedrooms, a restaurant, a bar and associated staff and ancillary rooms.

A viability report found that years of under-investment had left the hotel in “desperate need of substantial refurbishment just to stand still,” and, even with a refurbishment, “the return on investment would in our view not make commercial sense.”

The increase in other hotels – with 1,420 hotel rooms added or consented across the borough since 2014 –also left the business “uncompetitive”.

Due to the poor trading conditions, it was judged that the owners would make a “substantial loss” were they to sell the hotel as it is.

The proposed development encompasses a mix of one, two, and three-bedroom apartments.