Concerns raised by former staff members of the 125-year-old Orwell Hotel in Felixstowe over wages and its future have been dismissed as 'utter rubbish', by one of its owners.

A number of people took to social media to complain either they, or family members, or others, had not been paid and that the Orwell Hotel was going to become a part of a franchise.

There was also an allegation that bedsheets were used as table cloths.

Zishan Zaman, who co-owns the Orwell Hotel in Felixstowe, said in a statement that many claims on Facebook were 'total rubbish' and staff had now been paid.

"These people are not even employed (by us). We still employ 60 people and it was all fully booked last night. They don't care that our business is getting damaged," he said.

However, he accepted the Orwell Hotel will become part of the Choice Hotels franchise under the Quality Inns brand. He also admitted bed linen had been used as a 'one off' to cover a table.

Mr Zaman who has run the hotel since last April claimed as a franchisee of Quality Inns, staff will receive revenue management training, as well as name badges, while improvements would be made to the hotel to bring it up to 'three or four-star' standard.

He claimed said the ex-staff 'would have received notifications' that they would be paid last Thursday (February 15) and the delay had been caused by the time needed to process the payments.

He added: "We still have 60 people working there. We are the largest hotel in that area and we are in the process of signing up a franchise agreement."

One ex-employee said after Mr Zaman's statement that they were still owed £2,500 for work done in 2023 and was going through an employment tribunal.

They added: "Whilst I am happy for the most recent employees getting paid, there are still many that have not. The owner has a long history of this behaviour, backed by the many unsavory news articles published. I would not trust a word he says. If not for the huge outcry on social media this time on his trying to f*** hardworking people over and the bad publicity that followed; I doubt he would have paid up this time either."