Fort Road Hotel to open on Margate seafront
Fort Road Hotel is the latest venture from long-time collaborators Matthew Slotover, co-founder of Frieze magazine and fairs, private residential developer Gabriel Chipperfield, and artist Tom Gidley.
Described as 'a reinterpretation of the traditional hotel that provides a unique experience rooted in design, art, architecture and food', Fort Road Hotel will have 14 bedrooms; a 35-cover ground floor restaurant that will be open throughout the day; a 60-cover bar subterranean mezzanine bar; and a roof terrace.
Head chef Daisy Cecil will collaborate with consultant Gioconda Scott on the restaurant's menu, which is inspired by late 19th and early 20th century female food writers including Isabella Beeton, Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson, and will combine British seasonality with Mediterranean flavours.
Dishes set to feature on the dinner menu include pork terrine with pickled cherries; clay-baked sea trout with bay leaves; and wild blackberry pancakes with geranium ice cream.
Throughout the year, the kitchen will also host a series of chef residencies, collaborations and workshops with local foragers and micro-producers.
The cocktail list will include selection of slings, spritzes, martinis and juleps created using infused spirits created in house. They include gins infused with foraged fruits and grasses such as sloe berries, redcurrants, juniper, sea vegetables, wild fennel, and rosemary; and syrups created using fresh teas, citrus peel and pressed fruit.
Art will be a key factor in the interior design of Fort Road Hotel, with artworks by contemporary artists with close connections to Margate including Tracey Emin, Lindsey Mendick and Hannah Lees hanging in the bar, and a large collection of Margate-themed vintage photographs, postcards, memorabilia and antique maps lining the corridors.
