The Epicurean Club acquires Inn Places

The group was founded by Cirrus Inns chief executive Alexander Langlands Pearse and includes more than 20 inns across the country.

The newly relaunched Epicurean Collection, which is set to launch this summer, will aim to showcase the best inns and pubs in Britain.

Growth opportunity

The Epicurean Club chief operating officer Ed Hill said: “This collection is about creating community and belonging, a community of premium inns and pubs that deliver exceptional guest experience.

“The British staycation industry is increasing year on year and we want to be at the head of this growth.”

From 1 June, Inn Places founder David Hancock has taken on the role of inn curator, where he will be looking for sites to add to the collection significantly over the next six months.

Hancock told The Morning Advertiser​: “I have developed Inn Places over the past four years as a niche, invite-only club with pubs that have rooms (inns) but I really wanted to develop the platform further.

“It seemed a natural fit with the Epicurean Club with its ethos to build a collection themselves. [Inn Places] has 200 inns and [the deal with Epicurean] seemed a natural and pragmatic thing to do.”

Quality of sites

Hancock revealed the collection’s future plans and how it is decides to add specific pubs to the group.

He added: “My job as the inn curator is to travel the country, seeing the current places and inviting new inns to the collection.

“There is no fixed number [to add to the new collection], it is all about the quality of the sites. [This is based on] looking at the overall guest experience at an inn, pride and passion from the pub’s owners, quality of the rooms, the food and the whole experience when guests stay at a pub.”

“The future is to get the current Inn Places signed up then, looking at developing the experience as part of the collection,” Hancock said.