HASLEMERE is soon set to benefit from a new boutique hotel and restaurant in the former Georgian Hotel – set to open in April 2022.
All-day dining and hotel group Coppa Club is set to open its ninth bar and restaurant at the hotel site next year, subject to planning permission and listed building consent.
The deal with the restaurant group was initiated by The Georgian Hotel's former owner, and Haslemere man, Richard Angel, prior to selling the hotel for more than £4.6 million to the Jaspar Group, a boutique residential developer.
It came with planning consent in place for 18 new homes, and a full refurbishment of the historic listed building into a boutique hotel and restaurant.
Mr Angel said: "Having seen this project through from the initial acquisition to successfully achieving planning for a large and complex residential-led project with many challenges posed, I am delighted to have sold to Jaspar and secured Coppa Club as the operator for the restaurant and hotel.
"I am confident they will both create a truly one-of-a-kind establishment for locals, visitors and residents to enjoy.
“This site has so much to offer and its transformation has been a long time coming.
"I have no doubt that under the new ownership and with the planning consent we have achieved, it will revitalise this part of Haslemere, bringing jobs, vibrancy and much-needed new homes to the area.”
Yishay Malkov, CEO of Various Eateries, operator of Coppa Club, said: "We are delighted to announce that Coppa Club will be opening in Haslemere in April 2022.
"For years, private members’ clubs have monopolised the market as spaces for people to stay all day, from working to relaxing and this is something we are starting to change through Coppa Club’s unique model.
"At Coppa Club, we pride ourselves in providing people with a home-from-home experience, a place where they can work, eat, drink, meet or relax – from first thing in the morning till late at night.
"This will be our second Surrey location and third property to include a boutique hotel with 13 guest bedrooms.
"We are proud to be opening in a traditional Grade II listed building that was most recently a Georgian hotel and features Georgian and part Tudor architecture.
"We are taking inspiration from these original features as we transform the building to bring Coppa to life."
Haslemere town mayor Simon Dear added: "[The Georgian] had gone out of business and I thought we needed to offer this landmark building a sustainable future, as well as provide apartments right in the centre of town, where everyone can walk to all the facilities.
"Coppa Club is a glamorous operation with a sort of private club feel, but open to everyone.
"There’s also the jobs boost too, as people will be needed to staff the kitchens, front of house, bars, hotel rooms and all the things that go with hospitality.
"I’m very much looking forward to welcoming them to Haslemere and I hear there’s a lot of demand for the flats, so close to everything the town has to offer."