In 2019 Grant Rigby received the keys for Ramsgate’s Bedford Inn and set about transforming it from a boozer with a dodgy reputation into a family friendly venue with restored features, opened up fireplaces, new flooring and Chesterfield settees.
The following year a garden overhaul took place with the installation of a pergola, green plants and an ‘on-site beach’ area.
And this year yet a new addition has opened with four guest rooms and a revamped restaurant.
The project including initial purchase of the West Cliff Road pub has cost some £550,000 all in and you’d think it was time for a rest but Grant is now itching to find a new project and hand over the Bedford reins to trusted manager Sam Parker.
The latest work to create the four rooms cost around £100,000. Grant said: “I set about tearing the building to pieces, working with all local firms from people who drink in the pub. I had every single floor up to create the boutique hotel upstairs.
“I had an amazing design team, Clueit Webb – run by Margate’s Ollie Clueit and Corinne Webb- and they made the rooms beautiful. Each of them is very different and they are named after three old boys that had lived upstairs and one which is called the Miss Parker Room after Sam.
“Sam does an amazing job which will allow me to move on to something else. I’m looking for my next project so she will take over everything although I will be behind the scenes.”
Grant says the Bedford has been going from “strength to strength” with the revamped restaurant offering a new East/West menu – and Sunday roasts now back on offer – plus a boost to staff numbers up to around nine roles.
The restaurant is open Friday-Sunday and the pub is open Wednesday to Sunday, check the website for hours at https://www.thebedfordinn.co.uk/
The rooms are available on Booking.com at https://www.booking.com/hotel/gb/the-bedford-inn.en-gb.html
Did you know…
The Bedford Inn dates back to the 1800s and was previously called the “Jolly Gardner,” until it was changed sometime between 1862 and 1888.
