UK: Following a two year, £50 million conversion project, The Bodmin Jail Hotel in Cornwall is now taking bookings ahead of its opening early next year.
The luxury four-star hotel has been transformed from a former jail house by Mallino Developments Limited.
Twelve Architects and Masterplanners, a London-based firm, are behind the design of the hotel, while main contractor C Field Construction and engineers ARUP Group turned the design into reality.
It features 70 bedrooms, each created by combining three cells with many retaining original features such as stone walls and jail cell doors.
Amenities include a restaurant, bistro, an alfresco dining area and a cocktail and gin bar, as well as event space for up to 300 people.
The redevelopment has created around 144 jobs in Bodmin and over 1800 jobs in the supply chain across Cornwall.
Rajesh Joshi, CEO for The Bodmin Jail Hotel, said: “The opening of The Bodmin Jail Hotel is a proud moment for Cornwall tourism, and is also about celebrating Cornwall’s history. Through painstaking restoration and preservation, we are returning a national heritage asset to its former glory and creating a cultural showpiece that will attract guests from across the world.
“Over 90 per cent of the former jail is now within the hotel and its grounds; this is luxury accommodation in a truly unique venue – there is nowhere else quite like it,” he added.
The hotel is the latest phase in the redevelopment of the site. A Hospitality Academy to train tourism professionals is also in the pipeline, and a spa and glamping facility is set to open in late 2021.
As part of a separate £8.5 million investment, the world-class Bodmin Jail Attraction – which is located on the same site but is operated independently to the hotel – opened in October 2020 featuring a brand-new Dark Walk experience. Combining the latest technology and theatrical effects, the Dark Walk is an immersive and interactive discovery of life within the 18th-century prison.
The Bodmin Jail Hotel is managed by Interstate Hotels & Resorts.
