The Beverley Arms – East Riding of Yorkshire
Daniel Thwaites
Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire
Bowman Riley designed the redevelopment of the Grade II listed Georgian Beverley Arms located in a conservation area opposite the impressive 12th-century St Mary’s church in the town centre of Beverley.
The former coaching inn, the Beverley Arms, was built in 1794 with an older core. In 1967, the property underwent radical alterations, including a new five-storey flat-roofed block. The struggling 55-bedroom hotel fell into administration in 2016, leaving the property vacant and needing sympathetic renovation.
Daniel Thwaites acquired the property with plans to transform it into a five-star inn as part of its Inns of Character portfolio. The project involved the sympathetic renovation of the building, retaining significant features, including the famous ‘Old Inn Kitchen’ painted by Fredrick William Elwell in 1922 and making the most of the setting adjacent to the church.
Our design balanced the need to improve the spaces’ function whilst respecting the building’s fabric and historic significance. The inappropriate 20th-century extensions were demolished, including an overbearing 1960s block in the courtyard and a conservatory.
We designed a smaller, more sympathetic extension in keeping with the local context. The new building houses courtyard rooms overlooking the outdoor terrace. The new building allows sunlight to penetrate the external courtyard and dining areas creating appealing spaces for both hotel guests and attracting day visitors and the local community to enjoy dining and drinking.
We transformed The Beverley Arms into an AA Five-Star rated inn with 38 bedrooms with the entire ground floor devoted to great spaces for drinking and dining with a public bar, restaurant and external courtyard.
The development has brought vitality back to this important local landmark, which contributes to the growing success of Beverley’s visitor economy. The Beverley Arms was named one of the Times newspaper’s Top 10 British Hotels of 2018 and was crowned the winner of the Leisure and Tourism category at the RICS Awards 2019.
Due to the success of the food and beverage, we returned to the hotel in 2022 to enhance the external courtyard by adding glazing and new seating areas.
See The Guardian review of the Beverley Arms.
Images courtesy of Daniel Thwaites.