For years, the half-finished hotel at Fletton Quays has been one of those Peterborough landmarks nobody particularly wanted.

You could hardly miss it.

A big unfinished building beside the River Nene, sitting in one of the city’s flagship regeneration schemes while everyone waited to see whether somebody would ever actually finish it.

Now there is finally a much clearer answer.

Leisure & Co Hotel Ltd has bought the hotel and plans to complete it.

The Cambridgeshire-based company, backed by developer Spencer Frank Wrench, took over the stalled project in August 2026.

The plan is to finish the building as a Hilton Garden Inn, with a target opening in summer 2027.

That is a rather different story from “there might be a buyer”.

There is now an owner, an intended hotel brand and a target opening date.

The building is understood to be around 80% complete, which explains why this is not a case of starting again from a muddy field.

But its been left to stand and is heavily infested with pigeons and is probably water damaged and may have other damage.

The original hotel project was intended to bring roughly 160 rooms to Fletton Quays, along with a restaurant, bar, meeting space, gym and rooftop bar.

The council’s earlier project information confirms the hotel sits within the wider Fletton Quays regeneration alongside apartments, offices, the Government Hub and other waterfront development.

Work stalled after the original developer went into administration in October 2023.

The council had previously provided up to £15 million in funding of tax payers money for the development and spent several years trying to find a route that would get the building finished without taking on even more risk itself.

That history is why this sale matters.

Peterborough has not simply gained another hotel proposal.

It has gained a possible way out of one of the city’s most visible unfinished projects. All be it at a loss of around £13 Millon pounds.

And if it opens, the hotel could do more than provide somewhere to sleep.

A restaurant and bar could bring people down to the waterfront in the evening.

Meeting space could bring business visitors into the city.

A rooftop bar would be something Peterborough does not have many equivalents of.

And an operating hotel would finally turn a partly finished building into part of the Fletton Quays destination rather than the thing everyone points at and asks, “Whatever happened to that?”

There is still one important word in all of this:

Plans.

Summer 2027 is the target.

Before anyone starts booking a room, the remaining construction has to be completed, the building has to be fitted out, staff recruited and all the operational pieces put in place.

Peterborough has had enough false starts with this building to know the difference between a target date and an open front door.

But this time there is considerably more to work with.

A named owner.

A named hotel brand.

A completion plan.

And a target opening season.

After several years of uncertainty, that feels like genuine progress.

The next test is simple:

Can Leisure & Co turn the building Peterborough has been staring at for years into somewhere people actually want to stay, eat, drink and spend time?

Because if the Hilton Garden Inn does open next summer, perhaps the most surprising part of the story will be finally seeing lights on inside it.

Would you use the finished Fletton Quays hotel for the restaurant, rooftop bar, events, an overnight stay or something else?