The new owners of the Kingsway Hotel have opened the doors as they press on with plans to enhance the ‘Cleethorpes icon’.
After nearly 100 years in the hands of the Harris family, the Christians are now the ‘custodians’ of the seafront institution, and having successfully navigated a soft launch in Covid compliant conditions, are spelling out what is to come.
Key developments include a reduction in the number of bedrooms as the size and fit-out is enhanced, while a bistro is being created to complement the formal dining offer.
A cocktail bar is also now serving after the lounge and bar area were sensitively opened up.
In the restaurant, on which its reputation has been carved, the private Tennyson suite and lounge beyond have also been incorporated, to allow more dining covers at peak times.
It has enabled the hotel to operate at about 70 per cent the original capacity through the pandemic.
Husband and wife David and Jennifer Christian, together with son Andrew - who has held a hospitality interest in Bristol for the past four years - are delighted with the initial feedback, and the way the 40-strong team retained through lockdown have adapted.
Andrew, former managing director of investment firm Hargreaves Lansdown, left the corporate giant nine years ago to set up his own fund. His interest in the sector as a proprietor emerged when a boutique pub business he had invested in went awry. He stepped in, and has owned The Albion in Clifton, Bristol, for the past four years.
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The families concluded the undisclosed deal in July, as reported, with the intervening months seeing the extensive refurbishment inside and out.
Andrew said: “We have known the Harris family for a long, long time, so the price was agreed quickly, and it went ahead quickly.
“It is a prime location, David and Chris’ families have owned it since the 1920s. They have been the custodians of it, and that’s how we feel now. It is a Cleethorpes icon, everyone knows of it in the area, and I don’t think it would have been great for the town for it to go to flats, or another hotel chain, where it would perhaps have lost ‘The Kingsway’ feel.
“I first came here as a five year old, and it was the venue for one of my parents’ first dates.”
Of his experience in the sector, he said: “At The Albion, I have a professional manager in there, and while I have never had a hotel, it feels very similar, and we have retained the strong team here. The kitchen remains the same, while Rob Walton has returned as general manager too.”
He worked at the Kingsway between 1990 and 2000.
Turning to the building, Andrew said: “Much of the last renovation was done in the 1960s, with a lot of single rooms - it was the age of the travelling salesman. There’s not much demand now for single rooms, so from 54 we’re going to come down to 30, maybe slightly more, with much more of a boutique feel.
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“Eleven have sea views, so they are going to be really something. What we’ve done so far is just phase one.”
More is also to be made of a ‘hidden’ first floor roof garden, as access is created from adjoining accommodation.
Local contractors have been used on the work, including Townsend Electrical, who were involved in the Rex Critchlow led Sixties expansion of what had originally been a small terraced hotel amid houses and shops.
Stated ambition then of 80 rooms never quite materialised, with the lift shaft above the roof line evidence of intent to build up, and overtaken by neighbouring developments as the years passed. They only served to prompt speculation whenever a sale was speculated on.
David said: “Neither Chris or David Harris ideally wanted it to go to flats, so it is good to be taking it on as another Cleethorpes family. We see a lot more events, a lot more parties, and a big development will be weddings.”
“We don’t want to make it too different, we just want to enhance it,” said Jennifer.
“There’s a nod to the past, a convivial atmosphere and now we need to take the next generation with us,” Andrew added.