Bay Life understands that the Bay Hotel in Pevensey Bay has been sold to Dominion Hospitality —Bay Life, 6 November 2016
The hotel and public house, in a key location in the village and pivotal to the fortunes of the Bay as a visitor destination offering bed and breakfast accommodation, until now has been owned by the Chapman Group under the banner of Relaxinnz.
The current description of what is on offer at The Bay Hotel says that it is “located near to some of the most beautiful beaches on the south coast, with Pevensey Beach a minute’s walk away. This 19th-century inn offers a real ale bar, hearty home cooking and a children’s play area”.
“The 11 en-suite rooms have been recently refurbished and include Freeview TVs, hairdryers and tea & coffee making facilities”.
Paul Norman (3 November), writing for CoStar, which tracks over 400,000 UK commercial property buildings, says that “Dominion Hospitality, a subsidiary of private equity group Stellex Capital Management, has bought Chapman Group, owner of a portfolio of pubs in the South of England as it expands in the UK”.
He adds, “the portfolio is being purchased from Chris and Delia Chapman who have built a strong business and have worked closely with Stellex for some time over the terms of the transaction, and was brokered by Neil Morgan of Christie & Co, a leading specialist advisor for buying and selling pub businesses”.
Christie and Co in a press release published on November 2 say “Stellex is partnering with two industry veterans to assist with its plans: Ted Kennedy, who owns Pebble Hotels and was previously an MD in Whitbread’s managed pub division, and Billy Buchanan, chief executive of LT Management Services.
The press release adds, “Ted Kennedy will serve as Chairman for Dominion and LT Management Services has been appointed to provide the front and back office support”.
Ted Kennedy is quoted as saying, “this is an exciting opportunity with a great collection of businesses in an area I know really well. I’m looking forward to working with the team to build on past successes and on new opportunities.”
Billy Buchanan on behalf of LT Management Services says, “we are delighted to be involved in the acquisition and management of this portfolio, especially with the variety of units contained within it. With the right investment and resources, the Chapman Group represents a significant growth opportunity in the coming years.”
LT Management Services, we undertstand, has an experienced back office team. They are based in Attleborough, and provide all the necessary support for tenanted, managed and closed pubs in a client’s pub estate.
The comprehensive back office services include telesales, marketing, financial control and accounting functions, credit control, payroll, EPoS control and operations administration.
Outside the world of private equity, property portfolios and brokerage of deals in the hospitality industries are the places that are the heart of these deals and the Bay Hotel is one of those places.
In the famous Class sketch first broadcast on The Frost Report (7 April 1966), described as a “genuinely timeless sketch, ingeniously satirising the British class system”, we catch something of an early version of the nuanced management speak that now populates the world of the service industries where the common currency of the English Language can sometimes appear to have been skewered on a barbeque bought from B&Q.
Cleese, tall and patrician in appearance and demeanour, stands for the upper class; Barker, of average height, represents the middle class, and Ronnie Corbett, short in stature, but highly underrated in his comic timing, with his straight face cod Cockney, is the working class.
What the change in ownership will mean for the Bay Hotel is yet to be seen.
The building has been been described as being of quirky iconic late Victorian stature that carries with it, in the history of the enterprise and spirit, something of the essence of Pevensey Bay.
We do not look up to anyone here, whether a patrician John Cleese or a middle class Ronnie Barker in the classic comedy sketch.
Having said that, the new owners might like to note that a number of the Goon Show scripts were written with Pevensey Bay in mind, since the heroes of the fifties, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan were both here through the summers.
John Cleese, smiling, might nod with acknowledgement that the Frost Report sketches, which led to Monty Python both owe something to the Goon Show.
When it was settled on Thursday 3 November which private equity group has devolved which service to which subsidiary group to manage the service by which management group, presumably the next stage will be to see, in plain English, what this will mean for the Bay Hotel in Pevensey Bay.
Perhaps the group might like to tell us in a media release to the community what is to happen? That would be a welcome short stay break from the world of management speak would it not? After all, we are the hosts are we not?
Perhaps one of the starting points might be to make some connections with the local community?
The Bay Hotel, built in 1896, is the cornerstone of our fortunes as a visitor destination that can offer accommodation.
Pevensey Bay is one of the hidden gems in the crown of Sussex and we have much to offer visitors wanting to come and stay.
The Bay Hotel has done us proud in the past and it does us proud now. It is to be hoped that the new management group will do us proud again.
Is there any doubt that the world of small coastal communities is changing? Some of these communities are benefiting from a re-evaluation of the charms of such places, both from the perspective of living in these places and from the perspective of visiting these places for short stay breaks.
It does not need the Guardian newspaper in 2015 to tell us that we are of one of ‘ the place to be’ in their Saturday property feature, locals have always known that this is the case.
Pevensey Bay is ready for some fresh thinking as a visitor destination. The history and heritage is unique. No golden sands, but the beach, those big skies, and golden groynes at sunset, as we all know, are something special.
The possibility that we could be about to see something brand new in terms of a service offering, that builds on the historic success of the Bay Hotel and tunes in to the locality and gets it right, is intriguing,
As with all such successful ventures that inject something new into small coastal communities, the positive ripple effects to a local economy can be of significance.
A lady who lives in the Pevensey area with extensive experience in management in the local hospitality sector commented to Bay Life, ‘intriguing corporate tree’.
Bay Life will follow the plans for the Bay Hotel with interest. The interest no doubt will be shared by both residents and the local business community.
Simon Montgomery
editor, Bay Life
