The owners of Tenby’s Albany Hotel have written to residents in the vicinity to allay concerns raised after the premises entered a temporary arrangement with Pembrokeshire County Council to use the facility as a hostel.

Complaints from local residents regarding the behaviour of some of those staying at the building (which is situated along the Norton and junction of St. John’s Hill) had been flagged-up to councillors, leading to the owners of the premises writing an open letter to those living nearby in an attempt to alleviate ‘community tension’ in the area.

County councillor for Tenby’s north ward, Clr. Michael Williams last week wrote to Pembrokeshire County Council’s Chief Housing Officer on the matter, after being contacted by a number of concerned elderly residents on ongoing issues that were being reported.

“This evening (September 14) two police cars attended the hotel and a woman was removed in handcuffs, much to the consternation of some elderly residents,” he stated in his correspondence.

“This situation is unfair on those who have resided in this area for many years and until recently enjoyed a quiet civilised way of life, which unfortunately no longer applies due to the behaviour of some guests in this hotel!”

“A number of local residents are now extremely worried by the activities of some guests.

“This ranges from shouting abuse at people walking past, vomiting on the footpath immediately outside, and trespassing in the ground floor garage and first floor area of properties nearby.

“There are a number of elderly residents in the area who have been frightened and this behaviour is not acceptable,” he added.

Dyfed-Powys Police confirmed that an arrest was made at the premises last week.

“We were called to a domestic incident at the Albany Hotel, Tenby, at 7.50 pm on Tuesday September 14,” said a police spokesperson.

“A woman in her 30s was arrested on suspicion of assault. She has since been bailed.”

In correspondence to Clr. Williams, PCC confirmed that it was a temporary arrangement the authority had with the hotel owners to use the building as a hostel, but under review, it is an agreement that could be extended for a further six months until the end of March 2022.

“The behaviour and activity of any homeless clients are closely monitored and if breaches of our behaviour contracts are made then we follow processes to follow these up, working with the business owners to resolve any issues,” said PCC’s Chief Housing Officer Gaynor Toft.

“It is not considered that there has been a change of use to the hotel, as the residents live there under a ‘B&B’ type arrangement. It was considered at the time to be an operational matter and temporary arrangement until such time as suitable move-on accommodation is found.

“We have found it necessary to significantly increase our use of temporary accommodation due to the pressures of changing Welsh Government policy related to us having to accept duty under homeless legislation to provide temporary accommodation to those who meet the definition of being homeless.

“Unfortunately, we have an acute shortage of affordable one bed accommodation which means that we are continuing to have to use B&Bs/hotels as temporary accommodation for homeless,” she added.

The Slate family that have run The Albany for the past 15 years, wrote to residents nearby over the weekend to quash certain rumours that may have been spread about the facility, including the fact that they were said to be accommodating ‘prison leavers and refugees’ which was certainly not the case they stated, with most stories circulated ‘greatly exaggerated’.

“We have been working with PCC since November 2020 assisting them with accommodation on a B&B basis for Pembrokeshire people needing temporary accommodation for various reasons - relationship breakdown, economic etc,” explained Richard Slate.

“We are simply a hard working family that have had to reinvent our business during the pandemic and offering a vital service in conjunction with PCC to so many local people who have fallen on hard times during the pandemic.”

Correspondence hand delivered to residents in the area from Richard, Lisa, Brian and Janet Slate, explained: “As a family we have been successfully running The Albany now for the last 15 years and in that time we have always been aware that our hospitality business is in a residential area (we live here ourselves) and our thousands of guests we have looked after during this time are also very much made aware of this,”

“Unfortunately, not all people share the same considerations and whilst our literature and verbal instructions are very clear there are always going to be individuals who choose to ignore this, however when such incidents happen, we are always swift to react as it affects our other Albany residents, local community, ourselves and hotel reputation.

“When the pandemic hit, our business was devastated and we lost our annual coach contract (which later went into administration) and of course all other bookings as people were not allowed to travel, let alone stay overnight.

“This was later followed by travel restrictions and limitations which meant that many chose not to travel.

“With so many businesses being lost during the pandemic we have had to look at other options in case of further lockdown or restrictions, which has lead to our current arrangement with Pembrokeshire County Council which has been in place since November 2020,” the letter continued.

“We are proudly looking after local Pembrokeshire people (like yourselves and ourselves) who have found themselves in a situation where they need temporary accommodation and we provide them with a safe and secure place to stay on a Bed and Breakfast basis.

“In these uncertain economic times and strain on families during lockdown record numbers in Pembrokeshire are finding themselves in this awful situation.

“Please be assured, that as we have been doing for the last 15 years, we will be asking all guests to show consideration to all other guests staying here and our local community.

“We will continue to manage and resolve any incidents - that also occur across all hospitality businesses.

“As you have always done if there is anything that you feel we need to be made aware of then please contact us directly so that we further investigate and deal with it in an appropriate manner,” they added.

Clr. Williams said that it was ‘acutely embarrassing’ that he had to inform those who had complained about the ‘unfortunate behaviour’ they had witnessed from some of those residing at the Albany that he had no idea about the fact that Pembs county council had in place an agreement to use it as a hostel.

“Once again we see that the elected councillor appears to be one of the last people to be informed that this building had been changed to a homeless hostel!” remarked Clr. Williams.

“Residents when they ask their councillor what is going on expect their elected representative to be fully informed and able to give them answers. It is acutely embarrassing to have to inform them that nobody from PCC has informed their representative of any change in circumstances.

“I fully understand the chronic lack of housing that we have in Tenby, and it’s the worst that I have seen in fifty years, which is being exasperated by the growing number of rented properties that are being changed from long term lets to Air BnBs.

“This together with the pricing out of local people by the demand for second homes has made the situation far worse.

“The position that we find ourselves in is totally unacceptable, and an example of the housing pressures we face,” he added.