Could Palace return to its roots as hotel?

There are plenty of opportunities around the County Town.

As the council reviews all of the buildings, parks and pockets of open space it owns across the borough, it’s important to remember there’s more available than just future housing.

We have some great historical assets which can be celebrated, Archbishop’s Palace is among the jewels of Maidstone’s crown. It sits on the River Medway and has 700 years of history to its name, acting as a stop off for travelling archbishops.

The council is eyeing up a return to its roots, sort of.

Right now its sprawling rooms are filled with wedding guests, or left mostly bare for coroner’s court hearings. A chance to celebrate the 14th century manor’s heritage with a boutique hotel could be just what Maidstone needs. It certainly looks better than some of our current hotel offerings. But the idea of the site being shared with offices seems a strange one.

While of course it’s great to bring businesses into the town, and the opportunity to work in such a historic building might be seen as an honour, it does raise questions.

Why does Maidstone need new office space?

Well because this is the County Town, the business capital of Kent, the beating heart of the Garden of England’s economy.

Yes, but what about all those office blocks we had for years? They’re flats now, and the ones that are still open apparently aren’t all that attractive.

Fortunately start ups have the Business Terrace, a great alternative and something we’d like to see more of.

But maybe it shouldn’t go next to hotel guests’ bedrooms.