Georgian hotel used by Aston Villa FC to become sheltered housing

An historic Midlands hotel that used to house Premier League stars such as Jack Grealish and Marc Albrighton is to become sheltered housing.Siddall Jones marketed and sold Drayton Court Hotel, in Fazeley near Tamworth, for £1.25m to a property trader who plans to convert the building and rent it to a specialist care provider.Youth players, triallists and staff from Aston Villa FC were regular guests at the hotel, parts of which date back to the 1780s, as the club’s academy and training ground at Bodymoor Heath is only a few miles away.Other top names who regularly stayed at the hotel between 1996 and 2016 included the likes of Gabby Agbonlahor and Gary Cahill.The Georgian country house venue had been owned and operated for the last 25 years by hotelier Katie Bogue, but she made the sale as a result of growing family care commitments in the wake of COVID-19.The purchaser is David Kendrick, who operates as a commercial property trader via Penbale Ltd, and he explained he would be converting the premises into sheltered housing, subject to planning permission.