Reception captivates with its informal contemporary desk and modern horse contrasting simply and effectively with the old oak timbers. Click to see the exterior
"it is the ultimate in recycling to keep a building in use profitably for over 600 years"
The corridors are simply treated, keeping much of their original detail. Click to see the strongly contemporary, and very popular, bar area.
Tudor plasterwork has been found throughout the building as can be seen here in the lounge and again click to see plasterwork preserved in the bedroom area.
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White Horse, Romsey
Two of Cromwell’s Roundhead cavalry troopers were hung on a nearby pub sign, drolly labelled as a fine example of 17th Century wrought iron work. The hotel has been here for longer, and there has been an Inn on this site since the 14th Century. Of course it is the ultimate in recycling to keep a building in use profitably for over 600 years, but this is not just an hotel but a focus of town life
Progression from an ale house to the Post Tavern to a Coaching Inn to a boutique hotel may have taken years but has not been an easy or straightforward task as the new owner-designers are discovering. As if conserving and keeping useful a building of this age was not enough they have had to combat a listed buildings Inspector employed by the local authority who was so antipathetic to any change to make the building commercially viable that he opposed changes to a part built in the 1960’s and suggested that it was inappropriate that it be kept as an hotel, but should be turned into a museum. Perhaps he should have been placed alongside the ghosts of Cromwell’s cavalrymen…
Despite the problems of unhelpful and unsympathetic local officialdom the owners have persevered to produce a boutique that is only marred by their unfamiliarity with the finer points of hotel design. In the larger scheme, the development of an overall plan for the property they have succeeded in creating a property that will be a wonderful asset to both their new hotel company and to the town of Romsey.
The front of the inn is punctured by the gateway that allowed the coaches to go through to the yard and stables at the back. This created a long narrow building and the previous stables now become two-level suites, each of course named after a famous racehorse. To one side is a building, originally probably a feed store but now becoming additional rooms and conference area. The whole of the original yard now becomes an al fresco dining terrace and garden area, turning the focus from the street frontage inwards to what promises to become an attractive café and drinking area.
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