Bed and breakfast version of the Pig to launch in Southampton
A bed and breakfast version of the Pig hotel, which was launched in the New Forest last year, will open in Southampton in September.
The 12-bedroom property, which is located within the old city walls opposite the De Vere Grand Harbour hotel, is currently being refurbished and will be called the Pig in the Wall.
Robin Hutson (pictured), the founder of the Pig, said the bed and breakfast venture was an "opportunistic one" and did not indicate an intention to open other similar properties. His plan is to open more Pig hotels along the lines of the original 26-bedroom property near Brockenhurst, Hampshire, with a kitchen garden providing the restaurant with daily-picked produce for its relaxed, simple menu.
The Pig in the Wall formerly housed the Latimer pub and was part of the property portfolio owned by chemical multimillionaire Jim Ratcliffe, along with Lime Wood, the five-AA-red-star hotel opened by Hutson in 2009, and Whitley Ridge, which was later transformed into the Pig. Today Lime Wood is owned solely by Ratcliffe, while the Pig and the Pig in the Wall is owned by Home Grown Hotels, whose shares are divided between Ratcliffe (50%), Hutson (25%) and a group of investors (25%).
"The bed and breakfast became feasible when we were able to purchase the adjacent property," Hutson said. "It really is an outpost of The Pig, from where the general manager, Lora Strizic, will oversee it."
Hutson is currently negotiating an agreement to buy a property in Dorset which will be transformed into a second full-scale Pig.
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By Janet Harmer
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