100 The building of
unique attractions and opening of a new hotel is set to raise more interest in two
of the UK’s most innovative hotel groups
SOLENT SME GROWTH
TM
New attractions at Lime Wood
Innovative hotelier Robin Hutson has led the Lime Wood Group and its sister company Home Grown Hotels to become among the fastest growing on the South Coast. Under his chairmanship Lime Wood country house hotel and The Pig Brand of restaurants have been game-changers in the industry with both winning accolades on an almost monthly basis – they were recently awarded Most Innovative Hotel Groups in the past 10 years by The Ultratravel Awards as voted by readers of Ultratravel, the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph.
His latest plans will see both groups dramatically expand their offering this year. Work is about to start on two new unique attractions within the 14-acre Lime Wood grounds. The first, described by Hutson as a “very beautiful greenhouse” will produce home-grown “goodies” for Lime Wood’s Angela Hartnett and Luke Holder Italian restaurant and provide a rather special entertainment space. “We see it working in conjunction with the HH & Co Cookery School which opened last year, possibly hosting cocktail parties or garden lunches,” said Hutson, whose name is synonymous with another industry icon, the Hotel du Vin chain which he co-founded.
Across the lawn, building is also due to start on a cantilevered Lake House (think luxury living meets log cabin simplicity) which will straddle the stream running through the estate and offer views of the house. Expected to be in particular demand by honeymooners and celebrities, Hutson added: “It will be very special – our signature suite for sure.”
This expansion, combined with the four-star Portetta Hotel, lofts and mountain lodges in Courchevel, France, will no doubt ensure the Lime Wood Group, which is solely owned by billionaire businessman Jim Ratcliffe, remains one of the fastest growing SMEs in the south. It is currently ranked 28th in The Business Magazine’s Solent SME Growth 100 Index, thanks to 20% growth in turnover to £11 million in 2013 – latest figures show a further 7% increase in turnover to £12.1m in 2015.
Meanwhile, at the time of going to press, Home Grown Hotels which Hutson’s co-owns with Ineos chief executive Ratcliffe was in the throes of opening the Pig at Combe, near Exeter – the fifth in a litter of the much talked about Pig brand: restaurants with rooms and kitchen garden serving only locally sourced
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH COAST – SEPTEMBER 2016
food. “When the phone lines opened we booked 1000 room nights in 24 hours and crashed the website,” added Hutson. Very impressive, particularly as the original Pig was born just five years ago. “I’m not sure we realised we were catching that wave of a healthier form of living and being interested in where our food comes from but of course people immediately warmed to the offering and it went berserk from day one.”
Home Grown Hotels now employs 15 people in the kitchen gardens and has its own nursery. “We are very, very serious about the food and where it is sourced. I can’t believe there is another hotel company in the UK which takes the garden-to-plate ethos quite that seriously,” said Hutson who has opened 15 hotels during his 40-year career in the industry.
With Hutson and his wife, Judy, project-managing the birth of every Pig, from securing unique properties to designing their distinctive interiors, the brand seems unstoppable. To date, they include The Pig (in the New Forest), The Pig in the Wall, The Pig on the Beach, The Pig near Bath and, in July of this year, The Pig at Combe, with further expansion on the cards.
“That upper mid-market is
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Robin Hutson
massive and there is very little servicing it. People ask me every single week where I could recommend. I know the business backwards but I struggle to come up with somewhere. You find places that serve interesting fresh food but the bedrooms let it down or visa-versa, or it’s a bit stuffy or just tired. You rarely find all the elements. We make mistakes left, right and centre, so I’m not suggesting we are perfect but I think we do have a reasonable grip of all the elements,” concluded Hutson.
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