Chester’s former Mecca Bingo site is set to be turned into a hotel, leading to the creation of approximately 200 jobs during construction and after the business has opened.
Earmarked for St Oswald’s Way, the old building will be pulled down to facilitate the seven-storey 142 bedroom ‘Hotel Chester’. Of these new roles, 80 will be full-time jobs once it is up and running, and it will also include a serviced office space. Developer TAG is overseeing construction.
A planning report published by Cheshire West and Chester Council highlighted a small number of local objections, identifying traffic congestion, demolition noise and disruption as potential issues, while others queried whether a new hotel was necessary at all, given the number of other options already available in the city.
However, these misgivings were outweighed by the envisaged benefits to Chester and wider investment planning in Cheshire. The report stressed that the removal of the bingo hall would not damage the area’s heritage or architectural identity, and that it was already considered by some to be a visual blight on the Chester Canal Conservation Area and Chester City Conservation Area. It concluded that the redevelopment of the site would provide a social and economic boost to a hitherto neglected area, providing new employment opportunities.
In an earlier 2023 statement, director of TAG Luke Averill said that the Hotel Chester project would help the growth of the city’s tourism and business economy, creating extra demand for local amenities worth £2.3m every year.
