A Sixth Pig Hotel, the First of Three, is Set to Open May 2019.
Main Photo: The Pig at Bridge Place
Date: December 2018
Location: Bridge, near Canterbury, Kent
Name: Pig at Bridge Place – opening May 2019; and to come The Pig at Harlyn Bay near Padstow in Cornwall – opening Spring 2020; , The Pig on the South Downs near Arundel in West Sussex – opening Summer 2020.
No. of Keys: 28,
Seller: The site is a former 17th century, Grade II listed family home known as Bridge Place Manor, which has operated for the past 50 years as a music venue under the name of Bridge Place Country Club, where the likes of Moody Blues and Manfred Mann played during the 1970s. It was listed for sale last year off a guide price of £2.5m.
Buyer: Home Grown Hotels, run by veteran hotelier, Robin Hutson – the co-founder of the Hotel du Vin chain. His sister company is the Lime Wood Group, owned by Sunday Times Top of the Richest List in 2018, Jim Ratcliffe (50% owner, with Robin retaining 26% of Home Grown).
Outside the main building a new Coach House will accommodate 12 bedrooms; seven ‘Hop Pickers’ Huts’ will each have a double bedroom with a bathroom and wood-burning stove; and a newly restored gate lodge will offer two further bedrooms.
The Coach House will also contain a greenhouse restaurant with an open kitchen; and the Old Stables will contain two treatment rooms.
The hotel – like its sister properties in the New Forest (Brockenhurst); near Bath; Studland, Dorset; Combe, Devon; and Southampton – will feature a restaurant using produce from the kitchen garden or within a 25-mile radius of the hotel, as well as the distinct shabby chic interiors designed by Judy Hutson.
Robin Hutson, said: “We’ve had a great couple of years, with customers seeming to love what we do. Occupancy is in the mid 90%’s in our rural locations and we know from our guests and their invaluable feedback that they want more Pigs. After searching far and wide for truly unique properties, we really are over the moon about our new hotel in Kent.”
THPT Comment: Robin is a one-man (with his wife Judy) phenomenon , having started at The Savoy, becoming their youngest ever Reception Manager at the age of 23. Full marks to the couple well may the piglets continue.
First Seen: The Caterer
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