The George Hotel : Grade 2 Independent Hotel Design and Rebrand

The George Hotel was originally a Georgian coaching house. The building’s primary use hasn’t changed over the centuries and it’s now an independent hotel. Recently purchased by Roberta Goody, a writer and creative who lives in the local area.

“The transformation of a former Georgian coaching house into a destination bar and restaurant.”

Faber Design

Amidst the backdrop of lockdowns and restrictions, the design brief to Faber called for escapism, transporting guests to another time and place.

Timeless Contemporary Design

The work for Faber was focused on the ground floor public areas; reception, bar, restaurant and orangery; with the aim of creating a destination F&B business tailored to both the local market and guests of the hotel.

Narrative is at the heart of the concept. In envisioning the hotel, we wrote a story; a love affair, set amongst the atmosphere of Victorian England, between George and Mary. Their journey through life is woven through the fabric of the space; George with his love of travel and engineering; Mary with her love of botanical studies and writing.

Faber Design

The Bar area: Gentlemans club

The bar area is the perfect example of where design and practicality meet. The beautiful emerald green tiles to the front of the bar are extremely practical and hard wearing. The cultured marble bar top chosen in Sicilian offers all the beauty of a traditional looking marble bar top whilst also being water proof, stain proof and easy to clean. Following the impact of Covid and lockdown these requirements have become even more important when choosing the most suitable surfaces for a project.

Each space has its own point of reference in the story; the bar, a gentleman’s club with patent illustrations and deep leather bench seats; the orangery, a botanical garden room; the restaurant reflects their travels, with colonial inspired rattan panelling, tropical planting and fossils; and the reception area, the study with a leather lined writing desk and oversized family portraits.

Faber Design

The end result provides a series of spaces that work independently and as a whole. The consideration given to every detail of the experience, from tableware and glassware to menu design and staff uniforms, provides guests with a seamless and rich experience.

Faber Design

Bathroom Goals Galore

The washrooms were treated to the same care and attention to design and product specification as everywhere else in this venue. A beautiful soft pink and green scheme – with wallpaper from Divine Savages and beautiful upholstered pink seating.

The scheme was perfectly complemented by the classic beauty of Sicilian white marble from Versital for the vanity tops and splashbacks. Not only does the washroom benefit from the beautiful aesthetics of Versital marble, it of course comes with all the benefits you’d expect from our marbles. Versital is extremely hygienic offering the anti-bacterial protection of SteriTouch, as well as being waterproof and easy to clean.

Versital is ideal for washrooms and bathrooms where the design calls for a traditional looking marble, but they also need to be mindful of practicalities such as upkeep. Being waterproof and stain proof it is ideal for washroom vanities, as well as being extremely hygienic.

Gemma Stockberger – Versital

Working in Partnership with Designers

As well as manufacturing to design specification we are also on hand to offer advice to designers to help create the vision they have whilst being a practical real-world solution. We often have designers who approach us with a brief and initial design who may need advice making it work in practice.
We were able to offer our expertise in creating a beautiful custom drop edge detail. It really helps to work alongside experienced designers like Faber.
Our aim is to take the stress away from the designer and end client and work alongside other trades to get a good end result.
As well as being a beautiful marble finish it offers the benefits of being extremely hygienic, easy to clean and non-porous so will not stain

Gemma Stockberger, Director