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The Guinness Arms Hotel

Category: Hospitality
Location: Suffolk

Client Brief

DV8 Designs were approached to transform this thatched 16th Century Inn to create a new pub interior, along with eight new individually designed bedrooms within the adjoining barns. The clients were very keen for the design team to draw inspiration from the Guinness family history who own the venue and the surrounding Elveden Estate – letting this rich heritage provide a narrative for the scheme throughout.

Objective

Our objective was primarily to preserve the unique character of the buildings within the site boundary & sensitively progress renovations to create a stylish and elegant aesthetic for this luxury hotel.

Eager to create something that was bespoke to the family as well an eye-catching design to suit the area and affluent clientele which the renovation was aimed towards.

Approach

The Grade 1 listed pub needed lots of repairs and attention, as well as a new design.

Resulting in an extensive re-configuration internally and a building extension to house a state-of-the-art kitchen. Additionally, new modern extension to the rear of the pub to house the Guinness Arms’ new restaurant which we elevated by leading out on to the newly landscaped outdoor alfresco social area. 

Opposite the thatched pub, there were two original barn structures. One of these was demolished and one was reconfigured to a two-storey structure to house four bedrooms. Two barns were then re-built to match the existing flint wall barn feature to house a further two rooms to each barn, which increased the barn rooms to eight. The bedrooms had more of a specific design brief, to reflect and relate to each member of the Guinness families’ personal hobbies & passions.

Outcome

The £2 million refurbishment of the much-loved Guinness Arms at Icklingham – owned by Lord Iveagh, head of the famous Guinness empire managed to surpass all client expectations.

DV8 were given complete autonomy and afforded design freedom, the client implicitly put their trust in us to deliver this elegant gem of a project, nestled within the Suffolk countryside. The pub and barns were essentially a blank canvas which is always an exciting prospect for our designers.

It was an absolute pleasure to work with the Lord Iveagh and Guinness family on such a personal refurbishment scheme, bringing together our specialist knowledge of the sector, the family’s fascinating history, and their affection for this very special location.

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