Baker Hospitality to open third site
The White Hart Inn on Mersea Island is to reopen this spring after a major refurbishment.
Essex operator Baker Hospitality will open its third site in spring this year, expanding its portfolio of local venues to three.
The White Hart Inn on Mersea Island, Essex, which has been closed since 2013, will benefit from an investment of over £1m with a partial rebuild and major refurbishment to transform it into a contemporary venue.
An historical building on a busy thoroughfare of West Mersea, it will have a new bar and restaurant seating 85, a lounge, a terraced garden for up to 75 and six individually designed ensuite bedrooms, some with sea views.
Baker Hospitality, led by Piers Baker (pictured above left), also operates Church Street Tavern in Colchester and The Sun Inn, Dedham, which won Essex Pub & Bar of the Year at the 2019 National Pub & Bar Awards.
“If someone told me back in March 2020 that I’d be opening a new, third venture in spring 2022, I would never have believed them," says Baker. "The turmoil of the Covid-19 pandemic, with subsequent trials and tribulations of lockdowns, reopenings, restrictions and more lockdowns, made it impossible to look too far ahead. But when local businessman Lee Tyler (above right), landlord of the White Hart Inn, approached me and was keen to work with Baker Hospitality on the basis of our reputation and local networks, I could immediately see the opportunity the site offered.
"The White Hart Inn has huge potential and ticks all the boxes we were looking for in a third site: a beautiful location close to the sea, a village feel on the high street opposite the church green, and a great island community with many existing friends and customers.”
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