our history
Our hotel was built in 1920 on the site of two cottages, one of which served the village as an off license prior to the Hurtwood's construction.
Drawing it's name from the delicious whortleberries or 'hurts'
which grow on the slopes of nearby Pitch Hill, the Hurtwood
was originally the brain child of a group of local
residents including a magistrate and local landowner Mr. Justice Bray,
who when hearing that the cottages where to be sold at auction and
fearing their would be nowhere for locals to purchase beer, petitioned
Surrey Public Trust House Co. Ltd. to make an application for a full license
for premises to be built on the site.
The company subsequently acquired the premises in 1914 for £1,250
for the license and land but due to the outbreak of war was unable to start
building it's new premises until 1920. The architect Alfred Chas. Houston of High
Holborn produced plans and said the new building, at a cost of £2,750 would contain
a workmen's lunchroom, lounge hall, a large coffee-room and 16 bedrooms, together
with a large motor shed.
Always Popular with locals and people visiting the area on walking holidays the
Hurtwood remained in the hands of the Surrey Trust Public House Company Ltd
through it's incorporation into Trust Houses Limited in 1948, and Trust Houses
subsequent sale to become Trust House Forte. One of Fortes smallest hotels, the Hurtwood,
was incorporated into the groups Heritage Brand and used for many years as a training hotel.
Never really fitting into the group's corporate structure the Hurtwood was sold in 1992
to a local couple Mr. and Mrs. Best in a sadly neglected state.
The Bests immediately
set about restoring the hotel to it's former glory and setting it firmly on the road
to future success culminating in the winning of the
South East Tourist Boards Millennium Tourism Awards Small Hotel of the Year
(under 50 bedrooms) award in 2000. Further extensive renovations were carried out in
2002/2003 leaving the hotel with a new kitchen, public toilets, increased accommodation,
conference and dining facilities.
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