The jail you won’t want to escape! Floating Dutch prison to be transformed into a luxury hotel in London with a roof garden and views of the Thames
- June 28th, 201
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A floating Dutch jail created to hold illegal immigrants will travel hundreds of miles to London - and you will be able to stay there for roughly £110 a night.
The detention barge-cum-hotel will be moored in London's Royal Docks and will offer adventurous visitors a room with unique character in the capital.
It was originally built in 2007 to house illegal immigrants, but was converted five years later into The Good Hotel.
In Newham, east London a new hotel is being towed in from the Netherlands. A floating Dutch ex-detention centre will be transformed into the capital's coolest new space
While it used to hold illegal immigrants, for around £110 per night tourists will be able to stay on the docked ship-cum hotel in London
Called The Good Hotel, it will be towed 288 nautical miles to Amsterdam in September to east London where it will dock for five years
A million miles away from a mess hall: The hip new affordable hotel will serve craft beers and locally sourced food to all its guests
The hip social venture will travel 288 nautical miles from its current home in Amsterdam later this year.
Guests will be able to enjoy rooms in the converted prison in London for five years, after its epic journey in September.
The passage will see the floating platform buoyed by a submerged barge and towed across the North Sea by tug boats.
The barge - currently moored in the Dutch capital's North Canal - offers 144 modern rooms and works to hire the long-term unemployed.
The ex-detention centre is part of a trend for prisons made over into hotels as it mirrors transformations happening in Scotland, Latvia and Denmark 
The barge is part of a project that aims to employ the long-term unemployed for a 10-month placement while training 
The hotel was previously operating in its native Holland and is a popular address for locals as well as tourists to dine and unwind in
As well as the trendy accommodation guests can enjoy locally sourced beer and food and the address has proved popular in its native Holland after opening in 2015.
Roughly one third of the staff in the Amsterdam hotel were formerly long-term unemployed, and are taken on for a 10-month placement that includes training and working in the hotel.
The Good Hotel London will have an external makeover, which will include a green roof inspired by New York's iconic converted railway the High Line which will be open to the public.
Liquid Asset: The 144-room hotel will serve local food and drink to well-healed guests keen to explore east London's trendy dockland scene
Not only has the boat's interior been made-over, but the exterior too. The roof was inspired by New York's High Line and has been transformed into a garden
Planning documents reveal: 'There is a growing realisation that this vast tract of land and water offers very significant potential to the life and economic growth of London.'
Comfortable beds with huge pillows and fitted storage shows how far the hotel's rooms have come from housing prisoners in cells
Planning documents reveal: 'There is a growing realisation that this vast tract of land and water offers very significant potential to the life and economic growth of London.
'This new floating hotel forms part of the new wave of interest in the area, and it would contribute to the growth and revitalisation of the Royal Docks with the introduction of a much need amenity and addition of public interaction and use in and around the dock as a complement to recent developments.'
However, the plans have divided well-heeled locals, who think the converted barge will cause noise and traffic problems.
Not everyone is happy with the hotel's plans as local residents have complained that the barge will cause too much noise and traffic
The barge will be anchored in the exclusive Royal Docks, which is a neighbourhood that is barely served by London's hotel groups 
Experience London from a brand-new perspective on this floating ship, which offers the luxury of a boutique hotel but the unique character of a jail
The Good Hospitality Group was founded in 2012 by Dutch entrepreneur Marten Dresen.
As well as hotels in London and Amsterdam, it also has plans to open a 30-room boutique property in Antigua, where Dresen was first inspired to start the company.
The group hopes to open eight further hotels around the world by 2020.
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