2023, the year of Young’s rooms
ONE year of Young’s Rooms
It’s been a whole year of Young’s Rooms (well, kind of). Around this time last year, we were having a little bit of a mid-Young’s crisis. Are we hotels? Are we pubs with rooms? What do we call our bedrooms? And so, the journey began.
We got together a team of bedroom lovers, did some soul-searching (in the shape of bedroom reccy’s), hashed it out with a little help from some industry insiders, and it all became ever-so clear. Only, it wasn’t anything new.
We are pubs at heart. Really, really good pubs and we are forever proud of that. And our bedrooms don’t make us hotels. They’re really, really good hotel-y bedrooms that sit above and beside our beating hearts (that’s the pubs, you see). And the bedrooms? Well, we just felt that bedrooms wasn’t quite right. And so, Young’s Rooms it was. And is. And what a year it’s been since we first launched Young’s Rooms…
TWO issues of The Fold
July marked the launch of our in-room newspaper, The Fold. Why ‘The Fold’ we hear you ask? Well, our emblem (registered all the way back in he 1980’s) is the much-loved Dorset Horn ram. And a fold (in farming) is where sheep and animals of the same breed gather together. We think pub-lovers are of the same breed, and our fold is the pub. So there you have it, The Fold was born.
We’re super proud of this. We’ve knocked up two jam-packed issues of all things eats, sleeps, drinks and stays. A whole 30 something pages with everything from our top tips for summer staycations to top-secret (well, they were) recipes from our best-in-the-business executive chefs, chances to snap free stays, behind the scenes catch-ups with some of our general managers, and bucket-loads of reasons why staying in a pub is the best way to stay.
Here’s a look back at Issue 1 and Issue 2. And keep your eyes peeled, as Issue 3 will be out before you know it.
THREE newbies
We love our rooms. And there’s plenty more of that to go around. So, with open arms, we proudly welcomed three fantastic new pubs with rooms into the Young’s Rooms family.
First up, the White Lion. A charming olde-worlde pub in the heart of Tenterden (as in smack bag in the middle of the high street) with 14 characterful and quirky bedrooms. There was the White Hart in the pretty little hamlet of Ford, near Chippenham. This hidden gem sits surrounded by lots of leafy loveliness with its gardens overlooking babbling By Brook and is home to 11 gorgeously cosy countrified bedrooms. And the final addition, The Huntsman in Brockenhurst (our first-ever pub in the New Forest). This one’s home to 13 charming bedrooms with a modern twist.
And we’ve got more love to give – so watch this space.
FOUR mega makeovers
Because we’re not just adding rooms, we’re always on the go making over our existing rooms, too. And this year, we went pretty big. Here’s what went on.
Hort’s Townhouse (formerly Horts), was pretty special as it didn’t previously have any bedrooms. We worked extra hard to create 19 boutique bedrooms above our grand grade-II listed pub (which also had a top-to-toe makeover) on Bristol’s Broad Street. And wow, it looks great from every angle.
Carpenter’s Arms was up next. Another no-corner-left-untouched pub and rooms refurb, as we took this much-loved local and made it every inch lovelier. Pictures and prints adorn the walls from the pub through to the bedroom walkways and a wonderfully warming welcome greets from the moment you step through the door.
Then there was The Lamb, which closed its doors for a month-long spruce up towards the end of summer. This ultra countrified pub in Hindon was brought into the 21-century with a gorgeously good new look while its 18 bedrooms were given a pretty facelift, making this chocolate-box village resident a proper destination pub.
And hot off the press (because it only reopened this month after a near three-month closure), is the Bedford Arms. The whole pub has been beautifully restored and gracefully designed, keeping its inner beauty whilst giving it a look to be proud of. And all 15 bedrooms now have the hallmark of a super-cosy country pub with lots of pretty little touches.
But that’s not all, we’ve given The Bridge, Worplesdon Place and Brook Green Hotel some mini makeovers, too. Pop on in and take a look.
FIVE good truths
We figured that the five best things about Young’s Rooms can be boiled down into our Five Good Truths. They’re what makes our guests happy and us, us.
- It’s a joy to stay in a pub
- Who doesn’t love proper food and drink?
- We’ve been looking after people since 1831
- Our rooms are individual as it gets
- We’re full to the brim with character
All packaged up
We really do love having you over for the night. And we love it even more if you’re here to stay. So, this year we put together a selection of packages so that the eats and drinks pair perfectly with your sleeps, meaning you get to experience all the best bits of Young’s Rooms stay.
First up, there was the Spring into Summer topped-up two-nighter (this one was just for those sunnier months so it’s not around right now), Sunday Stays – because, who said the weekend needs to stop there? Eat & Sleep, a just-for-Mondays one-nighter with dinner and brekkie. Cosy Nights, a winter-y version of Spring into Summer. And Festive Stays, handpicked for treats-and-tipples season – this one’s not around for much longer!
They’re all a little different, but they all marry the best bits of a royally good Young’s Rooms stay. The pub, and the bedrooms. And there’s more where that came from, so don’t forget to keep an eye on youngs.co.uk./youngs-rooms-offers
We could probably go on and on, as this year has really been something special. But we’ll wrap up here. We end this year with 42 pubs with rooms, and over 800 bedrooms. And we can’t wait to see what 2024 has in store.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.