Former judges’ residence goes under the hammer
A former town centre hotel with a once noble - and nefarious - past is to be sold at auction. The Stone Court Hotel, on Lower Stone Street in Maidstone, was built as residence for crown court judges more than 400 years ago.
However, it’s more recent disreputable past culminated in a police raid in 2012 with the aim of busting a drugs and prostitution racket.
Three people were arrested for prostitution offences and a fourth held on suspicion of possessing a weapon, but only one man was ever charged. Police had targeted the hotel as the root of a rise in petty crime and antisocial behaviour in the area.
In May 2013, The force shut down the 16- bed hotel under the sexual offences act - the first ever use of the legislation in Kent.
The Grade-II listed building, which has tragically fallen from grace, still includes the original Tudor dwelling built for the wealthy Sackville family and was converted to house judges in 1716.
The historic venue, once described as the ‘jewel of the town,’ lay empty until September 2014 when it was taken on by Madeleine Rose estate agents but was never purchased. In 2015 permission was granted for conversion into 14 self-contained flats but the apartments were never built and the hotel was left to gather dust.
The planning permission for flats has now lapsed and the former boutique hotel has been put back on the market.
It will go under the hammer at the Clive Emson Conference Centre at Kent County Showground, Detling, towards the end of the month with a freehold guide price of £550-560,000. John Stockey, auctioneer, said: “This is an attractive period property with accommodation over four floors including a basement.
“A new owner might want to run it once more as a hotel or take it in another direction.”