Ben Mckellar of the Gingerman Group talks to Nick Mosley about the much-anticipated refurbishment of the bar and dining room of the Ginger Pig in Hove Street

THE Ginger Pig in Hove has established itself as one of the city’s go-to pub and dining venues and in June last year style bible GQ magazine rated it as one of the top ten pubs in the UK.

Under the watchful eyes of husband and wife team Ben and Pamela Mckellar, the Pig may have seen staff come and go, but the friendly yet professional service and excellent gastropub food never fails to deliver.

Last year, Ben and Pamela bought the freehold of the building, allowing them to develop 11 ensuite boutique bedrooms.

To accompany the addition of the accommodation, the Ginger Pig closed for two weeks at the end of February to allow an extensive revamp of the main public areas.

Ben said: “It’s the first full refurb to the ground floor space since we opened the pub in 2006.

“We have created a bar space, lounge space and restaurant space to sit alongside the 30-seat private dining room which opened last year.

“Sadly, we couldn’t afford to do the kitchen as well due to certain walls needing to come down which would have meant having to close the business for a longer period of time but we have big plans to change the kitchen in 2019.”

The addition of bedrooms was the Ginger Group’s first foray into the world of hoteling.

Ben said: “We’ve been very pleased with the feedback to rooms.

“We recently received 92 per cent from booking.com which is very high for a competitive industry.

“A number of national press articles have also helped including top 100 hotels in UK from the Sunday Times.”

Long-standing general manager James Thomson moved on at the end of last year to develop his own food and drink project in the city.

His replacement, Matt Denny, cut his teeth as deputy general manager at both Hotel du Vin and Harbour hotels.

Ben said: “Matt has stepped up to the challenge of running a very busy, seven day a week site, alongside coping with Christmas and a major refurbishment in his first three months.

“We have high hopes for him and I think he will help take us to another level”.

The Ginger Pig, 3 Hove Street, Hove BN3 2TR • 01273 736123

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