Acklam Hall, the Grade I listed wedding and events venue in Middlesbrough, is preparing to submit a planning application for a 59-bedroom boutique hotel in its grounds. Landowner James Watson, who runs Antidote Hospitality, is behind the proposal.

The hotel would stand as its own building in the grounds, built in local steel and glass around a Victorian-style garden, with a water feature by the artist Mackenzie Thorpe. Watson is holding a public consultation on the design at the hall on 3 September, from 4pm to 6pm, before submitting the application later that month.

Watson has described the hotel as a way to 'future-proof' Acklam Hall. The plan would let the venue offer wedding and events guests somewhere to stay overnight, alongside its existing restaurant and events business.

It follows a 55-bedroom hotel and spa scheme for the same grounds, which Middlesbrough Council turned down in 2024 over the design's fit with the Grade I listed hall. The new plan seeks to address that by keeping the hotel physically separate from the hall rather than attached to it.

Acklam Hall's bid adds to a run of hotel investment in Middlesbrough. The Middlesbrough Development Corporation, chaired by Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen, has lined up a 200-bedroom Marriott as part of a £120m mixed-use scheme on Borough Road.

The operators of the Holiday Inn Express Centre Square hotel have just put £2.7m into upgrading it and adding a new 42-unit serviced apartment block, Station Suites.

If the application is approved, Watson expects construction to start in late 2027.