The Pig (Home Grown Hotels) to expand with trio of new hotels

Date: January 2018

Location: Bridge, Canterbury, Kent, Originally a family home known as Bridge Place Manor, the property 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.

Arundel, West Sussex – The hotel will be situated in Grade II-listed Madehurst Lodge,
a former residential property which was acquired by Home Grown Hotels last year
and is currently the subject of a judicial review after South Downs National Park Authority granted planning permission for its conversion to a hotel.

and Padstow, Cornwall, both due to open 2019. Meanwhile, the Cornwall hotel will open within the recently acquired Grade II* listed Harlyn House, subject to change of use consents from a private home.

Names: The Pig at Bridge Place, South Downs Pig, The Pig at Harlyn Bay

 

Buyer: Home Grown Hotels, Since the launch of the original Pig in the New Forest in 2011 with financial backing from multi-billionaire Jim Ratcliffe of Ineos, one of the world’s largest chemical companies, the brand has captured the imagination of guests and critics alike, consistently enjoying occupancy rates of more than 90%.

Turnover for Home Grown Hotels in 2016 climbed 20% to £17.1m, according to the group’s most recent financial results lodged at Companies House. Pre-tax profit dropped from £969,813 in 2015 to £40,004, due to opening costs of the Pig at Combe.

Price/Cost: £30m

THPT Comment: Robin Hutson can do no harm…opening three hotel in one period is brave, but no doubt he will take it in his stride. Interesting that his ex-partner Gerard Basset has reversed his model Terra Firma, from a wine-specialist hotel to just a Bed & Breakfast, just this week.

First Seen: The Caterer