A seafront hotel has snapped up neighbouring buildings as part of a multi-million pound expansion bid.

Dover Marina Hotel and Spa wants to increase its room numbers by 45% - from 85 to 123.

Two applications submitted to Dover District Council reveal how the development would see the hotel expand into neighbouring buildings it recently bought.

The first is to create 13 en-suite rooms in existing vacant flats to the western side, spread over four floors above the Wheelers Fish and Chips shop at Waterloo Mansions.

The four-star hotel, part of the Best Western Plus group, already owns the shop and bought the flats this summer.

The second application is to provide 25 en-suite rooms on the hotel’s eastern side, plus a function room and restaurant.

This would reuse the now vacant Protea House, which contained NHS offices until the early 2010s and was also recently snapped up.

The applications are under the name of hotel managing director Kanagaratnam Rajaseelan.

He said: “My decision to make a further investment reflects my confidence in the growth of tourism in the district and the need to offer additional capacity to meet the demand for four-star guest rooms and function rooms for meetings and weddings.

“The leadership of the Dover Town Council and the Dover District Council have been very supportive of my proposal to expand the hotel as it will complement their plans to encourage tourism and employment in Dover."

Dover Town Council has said on DDC’s planning portal that it supports both applications.

Civic group the Dover Society is also in favour.

Its letter to the council said: “We welcome these applications that will convert under-utilised commercial property into productive use.”

The distinct curved terrace of Waterloo Crescent was constructed from 1834 to1838 with 19 houses over five storeys, with basements. Each had a front garden overlooking the Dover seafront.

Most of the terrace was then converted to a hotel in the late 19th to early 20th century.

The eastern end had the Shalimar Hotel before it later became Protea House and was converted to a college annex in 1978, It was used for offices from 1993.

Waterloo Mansions was converted into four flats by Dover Harbour Board in the 1970s and 1980s, with the basement and ground floor converted into an office and café connected to the existing hotel.

Dover Marina Hotel and Spa was previously the White Cliffs Hotel and then the Churchill Hotel, coming under its present name in 2011.

Unlike other buildings on the seafront further towards Dover Eastern Docks, this terrace was virtually untouched by enemy bombing during the Second World War.