Congratulations

…· To Chris Hall (pic right), Ben Morcombe (pic middle right) and Nathan Wiffen (pic far right) on successful completion of their BIIAB licensees certificate with high pass marks.

…To the kitchen teams at WLP and BH for their autumn Kitchen Hygiene audits by Nick Tilley – at WLP the score achieved was 91%, up 11% on the spring visit, while at BH the score was 80%, down 7% on last visit but still a comfortable pass.

…To the 37 members of staff who attended the long service award lunch at WLP this month – with a total of 598 years service to Beales Hotels, or an average of over 16 years each. A fantastic record, I am sure unmatched in any other hotel company, and testament to the continuity and loyalty of our fantastic team.

Welcome to

…Head Chef at BH (pic near right) and to Steve Mesher, Sous Chef at BH (pic middle).

…Barbara Spector, Editor of the International Family Business Magazine who flew into the UK to meet up with Trevor Beale for an interview on the eight generation Beales Hotels business. This interview will result in a prestigious article further raising the profile of the company among its family business peers (pic far right).

Happy Retirement

to Sally Wilkinson, Group Sales Manager for 16 years, and to John Farron, Head Porter BH for 18 years. Both of you will be very sadly missed with a huge contribution to the success of the company during such a long time.

Estates news

even in recessionary times Beales keeps investing – here is a picture of Room 40 which has just undergone a full refurbishment at WLP. Also the new Buckland Suite glass doors at BH are complete (pics right).

Look out for the new WLP Special Events 2009 programme – now out and packed full of events including a South African gourmet evening, six concerts, a midsummer jazz evening, and all the favourite events during the year (pic right).

And finally…

Christmas is going to be a more sober affair for everyone than in previous years as the credit crunch impacts on so many areas of our lives. Nonetheless the teams have made both hotels into fabulous festive places and we can still put on a better show than any other hotel in the area. And bookings over the Christmas period remain strong at both WLP and BH. May I take the opportunity to wish our customers, our staff and our shareholders a very merry Christmas and a Happy new year in 2009!

Andrew Beale
Managing Director