'Unviable' plan for redevelopment of fire ravaged Royal Clarence hotel dismissed

The owner of the Royal Clarence hotel in Exeter is developing a new plan for its rejuvenation five years after it was gutted in a devastating fire.

Ken Hanna has been appointed chairman of the Restaurant Group (TRG) ahead of Debbie Hewitt standing down at the end of the year to pursue her new role as chairman of the English Football Association.

Raymond Blanc has spent lockdown considering how and why to reinvent Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, and he has found his mantras: keep it local, with both people and produce; kindness will save the industry; and overall, keep it simple.[...]

We trudge into the season bearing Brexit, Covid, lack of visas and an ineffectual government, so Robin Hutson finds hope elsewhere