Family's return to Hexham's County Hotel

David Harding, who had owned the Crown Inn at Humshaugh for the last five years and ran the Dyvels at Corbridge until last April, was approached by operator Punch Taverns to take on the County Hotel just last week.

And within just a few days he was given the keys to the premises, which was run by Peter and Dianne Harding, until Peter’s death in February 2012 after a short illness.

The hotel has since stood empty for around 18 months until Punch Taverns decided it was in need of a facelift and invested over £700,000 in refurbishing the premises.

The former Argyle’s bar was incorporated into the hotel layout with the hotel bar, dining area and seven bedrooms given a new look.

The iconic revolving doors at the front of the building were maintained as part of the overhaul, and for David and his family, those are one of the only familiar features which remain.

“It has a totally different feel in here now to when my mum and dad had it,” said David.

“It feels like a different place completely but the work on it has been done nicely and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do with it.

“It’s aimed at a completely different market now and the challenge is to get people back through the doors again,” he added.

Taking on the challenge with David is a friend of his, Paul Watkins, who used to run Argyle’s bar and in recent years has been at the helm of the Golden Lion in Corbridge.

”The approach from Punch came totally out of the blue,“ added David.

“I’ve brought Paul in to help because we’ll be continuing to run the Crown, which is where mum and dad were supposed to retire to.”

David, his wife Gemma and four-year-old son Jackson live in Corbridge, while his mother Dianne lives at the Crown Inn.

“I know mum had mixed feelings about coming back here but we’ll just be observing how things work here over the next few weeks and then we’ll decide how best to move forward,” he added.

All the current staff will remain at the hotel with plans to review the current menu.