The new boss of The Grand in Brighton has revealed he will not be trying to win back the hotel’s five star status.

Andrew Mosley, general manager of the De Vere hotel, said that plans for a multimillion pound refurbishment had been shelved and they had no immediate intention of trying to win back the coveted AA stars.

Mr Mosley, who has just taken the top job, told The Argus his priority was to bring the iconic hotel back to the people of the city.

He said: “Ratings are provided by the AA and it is a process you can choose to subscribe to.

“At the moment we have chosen to have an unclassified rating, but we still believe we are working in a top end four star, towards five-star environment.

“Going forward we will continue to improve that standard, but we haven’t taken the decision to become reclassified.

“I don’t think that even if we had major refurbishment we would be particularly concerned about the rating. The physical plaque is not top of my priorities.”

It leaves The Grand in Eastbourne as the only hotel in Sussex with the AA’s highest rating.

The Grand in Brighton lost its five-star classification when a £25 million refurbishment was due to begin in 2008 as the AA does not rate hotels undergoing work.

The multi-million pound refit was postponed when the recession hit, causing Mr Mosley’s predecessor Michael Knox-Johnston to cut 30 jobs.

Mr Mosley said there were no immediate plans to resume the work, but promised there were no redundancies on the cards.

He said: “We are still planning to spend money on the property.

“This is still a beautiful hotel to come into and soak up the atmosphere, but if it had some money spent on it it could be better."