A year after opening in Newcastle, Hotel Gotham is expanding into the former police station on Pilgrim Street, transforming it into 30 luxury rooms and suites. The refurbished space opens to the public on November 12.
Second phase adds rooms and event spaces
The expansion adds 30 bedrooms, including eight suites, alongside three event spaces created within the building’s original courtrooms. The hotel, which opened in Newcastle in the run-up to Christmas 2025 after a successful stint in Manchester, is known for its 1920s-inspired decor, chic bar and restaurant, private members club, and nods to its past as a fire station.
Plenty of the police station’s original character has been preserved, from the judge’s dais and chandeliers to former holding cells, terrazzo staircases, and gallery seating repurposed as bedroom feature walls. The Judge’s Chambers still feature their original wall panelling, while three former prisoner holding-cell rooms retain their glazed tiled walls.
History preserved in the design
Selected guestrooms incorporate original features from the police station, including sections of former gallery seating from Courtroom One that have been repurposed to create striking feature walls. The ground floor will also feature a museum open to the public on selected days, showcasing original features including the former gun-safe door and the prisoner cell-corridor gate.
Period photographs, architectural drawings, and interpretation boards will explore the site’s history, from its carved emblems and the story of Chief Constable Crawley, to Newcastle’s Mounted Police and the horses once stabled on site.
General manager on the expansion
Chris Thompson, General Manager at Hotel Gotham Newcastle, said: “Opening the Police Station feels like completing the story we started when Gotham first arrived in Newcastle. This building has an incredible history, and we’ve been very conscious of making sure that history isn’t hidden away – it’s part of the experience.”
