Will Coldwell 

Asleep in Albion: The Libertines reveal name of their Margate hotel

The Albion Rooms hotel and studio on the north Kent coast is set to open this summer. Rumours Pete Doherty will be manning reception are unconfirmed
  
  

Portrait of The Libertines, who are to open a new hotel, bar and studio in Margate, this summer
Feel free to browse the buffet breakfast. The Libertines, who are to open a new hotel, bar and studio in Margate, this summer. Photograph: Tony Linkin, Coalition group

The Libertines (pictured) have revealed the name of their new hotel, due to open in Margate this summer. The Albion Rooms – the same nickname given to the Bethnal Green flat where the band held gigs in their early years – will also feature a bar, restaurant and recording studio.

The hotel occupies a five-storey, 10-room Victorian building with a view over the town’s bandstand and was bought by the group last year, while on a tour of British seaside towns. The Libertines are due to release their fourth studio album this summer.

In a press release, the hotel is described as being “Inspired by the celluloid cohabitation antics of the Beatles and the Monkees.”

The release continues: “Carl, Gary, John and Peter had been looking for a creative home: a living art space, a Warholian factory, with guestrooms, a bar and studio. The band members have already made themselves at home, and have commenced writing their fourth studio album, and will be inviting fans and the world’s press to play a part in the creative process.”

The announcement came with a video showing the band taking a look inside the hotel, filmed in black and white and soundtracked by “I do like to be beside the seaside”, suggesting the kitsch aesthetic the hotel may be aiming for.

Each room is said to be “individually designed … each with a distinctly Libertines’ style”. It is not clear what this means but it can’t be worse than what was on offer from the previous owners.

Formerly know as the Palm Court Hotel, it was considered one of the country’s worst, boasting a host of negative reviews and complaints on Tripadvisor, where 57% of guests rated it “terrible”, stoking up so much outrage the local newspaper spent a night there investigating it.

 

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