Home Grown Hotels, the operator of The PIG Hotels, has acquired The Tunbridge Wells Hotel on The Pantiles. KentLive reported the sale on 17 September 2026, and Boutique Hotel News reported the acquisition on 18 September 2026.
The building is an 18th-century Georgian property, Grade II listed, with 20 bedrooms. It came to market in November 2025 through Fleurets at a guide price of 2.7 million pounds, after a first listing in 2023 that invited offers in excess of 3.5 million pounds. The completed guide price of 2.695 million pounds sits 23 percent below that first asking price, a reduction of 805,000 pounds. Across 20 bedrooms, 2.695 million pounds is 134,750 pounds a key.
KentLive reports the freehold as virtual, held on a 125-year lease dated July 2012. Simon Bland, an associate at Fleurets, said the agency completed the transaction for Julian Leefe-Griffiths, who had operated the property for 13 years.
What the Keys Carry
Boutique Hotel News lists 20 bedrooms, a bar and restaurant with capacity for about 80 people, and a function suite seating 50. KentLive reports the building as part five and part three storeys, with the bar and restaurant on the ground floor and the en-suite bedrooms above. KentLive puts outdoor seating at 90 people, rising to about 220 during events, and Boutique Hotel News records the same external area as about 90 covers subject to a paving licence.
The Refurbishment Window
Fleurets told KentLive the hotel will undergo a refurbishment over the coming months, with a focus on local suppliers and produce. Boutique Hotel News reports the plan as a comprehensive refurbishment that repositions the asset into a town-centre boutique property. THE PIG lists Tunbridge Wells as coming soon on its own locations page and publishes no opening date.
Twenty keys leave the sellable set for that window. No page publishes the dates, so the window sits outside any forecast built on the property.
The Exit from Groombridge Place
The acquisition follows the group's exit from Groombridge Place, the Grade I listed moated manor house just outside Tunbridge Wells. KentLive reported on 15 May 2026 that the group accepted a private offer for the estate and ended its plan for a hotel there. Boutique Hotel News attributes the exit to a hold up in planning complexities. The abandoned plan carried 56 bedrooms.
THE PIG's own account states that the Groombridge plan did not proceed and that the same corner of Kent kept a place in its plans. The Pantiles property has traded with 20 keys.
The Group's Distribution Position
THE PIG lists nine hotels and a pub on its locations page, plus THE PIG-on the farm at Stratford-upon-Avon for 2027 and Tunbridge Wells as coming soon. Its existing Kent property is THE PIG-at Bridge Place in Canterbury. The group is marking 15 years of trading.
The rooms sell through the group's own site, which carries each location page, the booking search and the mid-week offers. KentLive reports that The Pantiles drew 1.6 million visitors in 2025 on owner Targetfollow's figure, and describes the colonnade as a food and drink address with cafes, restaurants, pubs, live music, events and markets.
What Is Not Published
The sale price is undisclosed. THE PIG has published no reopening date and no revised bedroom count for the refurbished hotel. No room rate for the completed property appears on the group's own locations page.
Three numbers set the model for a revenue team: 20 keys, a 134,750 pound guide price a key, and an unstated refurbishment window. Put the reopening date and the target rate position to the group in writing before you price the market.