See Inside Palms Hotel, Hornchurch after renovation

The Palms Hotel was opened in 1971 as The Fairness Motel, and has since seen contrasting periods as a Hilton Hotel as well as an abandoned and non-functional property.

Abdul Shahul Hadi and Suresh Kondur are both part owners of the Palms Hotel after a group of investors took over in November 2023.

The Palms has 148 renovated rooms (Image: the Palms Hotel) “Substantial investment has gone into the Palms – we’re talking about a few million and this was driven by the view of returning the Palms Hotel to glory as it was a few decades ago,” said Suresh.

“Our first priority was to reinstate the hotel and the facilities that the site had, such as the piano bar where people have great memories of the Palms in the past.

“When we walked into the site, the ambition was to renovate these facilities and also add value to the community. We wanted to create a community service and create a venue for events like weddings.”

The Plaza Lounge contains a piano bar and a pan-Asian kitchen (Image: the Palms Hotel) The investors, under the group name Palms Hotel London Ltd, have refurbished 148 rooms as well as the hotel’s Sapphire Suite and Plaza Lounge, which contains their pan-Asian kitchen and piano bar.

Guests can choose from classic double rooms, classic twin rooms, or executive king rooms.

Suresh said the investors wanted to create a venue for events like weddings (Image: the Palms Hotel) More facilities are expected to be opened later in the year such as a “high-end, brand-new” venue hall which will hold more than 400 guests as well as a refurbished helicopter landing in the hotel’s back land.

Abdul said: “Everyone who has walked into Palms so far has given us a pat on our back and shown appreciation for how well we have done.

“We spoke to many people in the local community who have fond memories of the Palms and we wanted to treasure that so we haven’t changed the name of the hotel.”

On December 13, the Palms hosted a special night of old-school entertainment as it welcomed DJ Richie Rich back to perform at the hotel for the first time in 15 years.

Suresh said: “We found out that there was a famous DJ who was heavily associated with the Palms and we wanted to bring these old fond memories back so we brought him back and it was a great success.

“So much so that we have our next event planned on January 31.”