How we got started
Paul and Rose Roberts
After 30 years of working together in the catering trade Paul and Rose Roberts decided to up sticks and relocate to Cornwall to run a hotel.
The two had started out running a caf‚ in the East End of London, and later spent 10 years running a fish and chip shop, before building up a chain of four leasehold restaurants in garden centres. But when the company that owned the four garden centres was bought out and the new owners decided to take over the on-site catering, terminating the couple's leases, they decided it was time to chase their dream.
"We'd been toying with the idea of moving to Cornwall for 30 years," says Paul. "It was a family decision to do this."
Having recruited their son, who had been head chef in a few hotels, and their daughter-in-law, who was previously general manager of the Imperial hotel in Torquay, they went off in search of properties.
The couple looked at a lot of properties before finding the Wellington hotel, a 16th-century coaching inn in Boscastle, north-west Cornwall. Even though "it had been neglected for 50 and was on a downward spiral", they immediately saw the potential. Previous guests included royalty. "It must have been quite some place in its time," says Paul.
After buying the hotel in January 2003 the couple launched a major refurbishment which, 14 months later, is still ongoing. The number of bedrooms has been reduced from 21 to 15 - all but one of which have been overhauled - and the couple have lots of plans for the restaurant. Having just earned two RAC ribbons, they hope to get two AA rosettes shortly and are aiming for a Michelin star.
Although the family has 20 staff, "We all do our bit," says Paul, who likes the social side of the life and working together as a family. "We've really enjoyed it, and the locals have made us really welcome," he says.
And their faith in the building's potential has been vindicated. Even with rooms off-line due to the refurb, Paul says they have doubled the trade in the first year.
