The Pig to open new hotel on the Dorset coast
Home Grown Hotels (HGH), the company behind the Pig, which launched in the New Forest to great acclaim last summer, is to open a sister property in Studland Bay, Dorset.
Contracts have been exchanged to acquire the leasehold on the 23-bedroom National Trust property, the Manor House hotel, for about £3m. Built in about 1825, the property, which has dramatic views of Old Harry Rocks and the Jurassic Coast, has been a hotel since 1950.
It will be the third property within the Pig portfolio, with a 12-bedroom B&B set to open in Southampton. While the brand is still very much the Pig, the new hotel, set to open following a major refurbishment and addition of a kitchen garden in June 2013, will be known as the Pig on the Beach, while the original property will be renamed the Pig in the Forest and the bed and breakfast will be called the Pig in the Wall.
The Manor House has been owned by Andrew and Karen Pukis for 12 years. They will continue to operate it until the end of November when the deal with HGH is expected to complete.
Robin Hutson, chief executive of Home Grown Hotels, said that this is the second time he has attempted to acquire the property - he first tried to purchase it after selling the Hotel du Vin group in 2004.
"It is a truly unique property being sited in a completely unspoilt piece of coastal countryside yet within easy striking distance of London," he said. "We are very much looking forward to this project and the opportunity of creating something very special for this part of the country."
Lora Strizic and James Golding, both currently at the Pig in the Forest, will move to become hotel director and head chef respectively at the new hotel. The new general manager at the Pig in the Wall will be Rachel Brazier, who is currently front office manager at Lime Wood, while Strizic's replacement at the Pig in the Forest will be her current deputy, Jorges Gertrudes.
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By Janet Harmer
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