Meet The Owners
Hello!
For those of you we haven’t met yet, here’s a little bit about us….
We purchased the Old New Inn & Model Village towards the end of 2018, knowing we had taken on quite a challenge, as both the bedrooms and bar/restaurant had been closed for many years. We had a vision and determination to refurb, improve and develop the main business areas that make up the business. Namely, the Model Village, which needs constant care and attention as the natural Cotswold Stone forms are affected by frost and rain.
The bedrooms were our immediate priority, as with both of us being ex hoteliers we knew we could make these some of the best rooms in Bourton for guests to stay. A full refurb and refit programme was started a couple of months after we moved in and within 4-5 months we had 8 (now 9), beautiful ensuite bedrooms to offer. The next phase was to bring the commercial kitchen up to modern day standards and ensure we had reliable equipment and good working spaces to cook and clean pots. This was completed in early 2021, along with our 9th bedroom (the Cotswold Suite) A year ago we were at last in a position to start the refurbishment of “The Tap Room” which we are delighted to have re-opened in March 2022 and is now going from strength to strength.
…but enough for now about the business, this is a chance for you to get to know us and why we decided to take on this exciting, but challenging scope of work….
Our Backgrounds
We have both always worked within the hospitality industry gaining a variety of skills and knowledge within hotels, restaurants, conference centres and events. Before taking on the Old New Inn Andrew spent six months running a renovation project on a hotel in the Caribbean island of Grenada while Julie continued to grow her event management company established in 1996. Since taking on the Old New Inn we’ve been fortunate enough to visit Grenada on a few occasions and enjoyed the hospitality and weather that it offers. Julie is now retired from the event management business after over 25 years and has more time to offer in general assistance at the Old New Inn; while Andrew is very much involved in the day to day activities required to keep all parts of the business operating smoothly and effectively. The combination of these skills and a strong connection with the Cotswolds area is what ultimately drove us to take over the Old New Inn.
A picture from Andrews time in Grenada
Our love of The Cotswolds
Julie has lived in The Cotswolds since 1992 and it’s always been an area extremely close to her heart with her family also around the area. We lived in Long Compton together for 25 years, and used to take our children to different areas around The Cotswolds during the school holidays, including the top attraction, Bourton On The Water’s Model Village. Our youngest daughter Hannah was born in The Cotswolds and started school in Moreton, with Sophie (a little older than Hannah) also living in the area for her younger and teen years. Julie’s office was in Kingham, and Andrew was based in Oxford, so The Cotswolds was really the best place to be for the whole family
Family life
With both of us coming from close families and Andrew’s being particularly large (there can easily be 30+ of us for a get together) it’s no surprise that we have a pretty big one of our own. With four grown up children between us, two Grandchildren and two Grandpups, our gatherings are never short of fun and chaos! It’s been amazing building a business that our family can also be involved in. Hannah was tasked with setting up our ice-cream kiosk during the summer while she was studying and our eldest daughter Nichola was involved with the launch of the Tap Room and currently with social media and marketing. Our only son, Matthew, has two children and of course they make sure they inspect the Model Village during every visit.
The Christmas after we moved in and before the refurbishment work had started, we managed a family Christmas for 28 of us, with one big table in what is now the Breakfast Room, a truly memorable time for the Lund-Yates family that we were so lucky to be able to do.
Most of the Lund-Yates family Christmas 2018
So that’s us! We hope you get the chance to come and see what we have worked so hard on, we want it to feel full of love, comfort and joy for locals and tourists alike. If you see us during your visit, please don’t hesitate to stop us and say hello, we love it when people tell us about the memories of their visits, often many years ago and locals who are able to tell us stories of a past era and life at the Old New Inn.
To see what we’re getting up to on a regular basis, you can follow us on Instagram or Facebook!
