THE vacant King's Arms Hotel in the centre of Christchurch could become a den for drug addicts and vagrants, owners have warned after police moved in to evict a group of unwelcome guests.

Police with sniffer dogs were called in Monday morning after reports of a burglary in progress at the hotel, which has lain empty since last autumn while owners and council planners argue over the future of the listed building and former top town-centre hotel.

Uniformed officers and dog handlers carried out a thorough search of the premises but found no-one.

It is thought the intruders were squatters who managed to break in to the hotel through a window at the rear of the boarded- up hotel and escaped the same way after being disturbed by a security check of the building.

Hotel owners raised the alarm after discovering windows open, lights on and A television playing in one of the rooms.

"We estimate there may have been four or five of them and it looked like they had been there for a few days," said Dennis Roach, a director of the Christchurch Hotels consortium which owns the Kings Arms.

He added: "There has been a lot of damage inside and they have made quite a mess in some of the rooms."

The hotel has been closed and boarded up since last autumn pending an ambitious refurbish-ment of the hotel including controversial plans for building homes on part of the car park off Millhams Street.

The scheme, which has prompted a lot of local objections, is expected to come before Christchurch council's planning committee in September.

Mr Roach said: "We have done as much as we can to make the building secure but as long as it stays like this there is a danger that this sort of thing will continue. It is very disheartening.

"People need to make up their mind what they want with the Kings Arms. We were the only ones that wanted to keep it as a hotel.

"Quite frankly, it will become a den if we are not careful."