Cliffemount Hotel, Runswick Bay: Yorkshire family’s plans to breathe new life into iconic building in coastal village as demolition begins

The Fojt family, who bought a holiday home in the area more than 14 years ago, were inspired to give back to their community by acquiring the popular Cliffemount Hotel that overlooks Runswick Bay and revitalising it.

They decided to demolish the building due to it being rundown, and the family have a grand plan to give it a new lease of life.

With sustainability at the forefront of their project, the family has had to follow strict design and building regulations set by The Passivhaus Trust whilst rebuilding the hotel. In order for this to be achieved, the building must be demolished and reconstructed.

If successful, the new Cliffemount would be the first hotel in the country to achieve Passivhaus status.

The response from the community regarding the project has been overwhelmingly positive. They have been involved in every step of the process by the family including an open consultation.

The demolition started on August 19 and the family are gathering anecdotes and memories from locals who have an attachment to the building.

Melissa Tomlinson, managing director of the hotel and a member of the Fojt family, told The Yorkshire Post: “We wanted to do it as a family, it’s very much a passion project for us all.

“I’ve got a family of five, so about 14 or 15 years ago my parents bought a cottage there. They started to establish themselves in the village, they got to know lots of people and they thought [it was] a beautiful community.

“The hotel was there and it was thriving and doing really well. Time went on, my father passed away and there were various things that happened in our family.

“At that point we thought, what could we do to give back to this community that is so special to us, that holds so many strong, happy memories. The bay is so special.

“[At that time, the hotel] wasn’t doing so well but we knew what it could be for the locals, the suppliers, hospitality industry, tourism and everything.

“One morning my mum rang us and told us she had bought the hotel. We’ve all got different interests; I’m particularly interested in people, tourism and hospitality, my brother is into data, my mum is into interiors and my sister is involved in the PR side.

“We’re really excited to see what it can do, not just for locals but for the area and bringing people in.”

Ms Tomlinson shared their plans for the hotel.

“We’re not going to be changing anything drastically,” she said.

“What we are going to be doing is opening a hotel that has [already] been there with a pub and a restaurant serving good food, good beer, good wine.

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“The locals went there because of the views, the service they got, the whole feel and dynamic of the hotel.

“The building had been developed over the years by different families that have owned it or different companies, so it’s really changed from when it was first established.

“The reason we’re knocking it down is because it’s been added on so many times, it’s not functional in terms of the electrics, how wide the doors are for accessibility, the whole functionality of the bedrooms doesn’t really match anymore.

“It needs a new lease of life and then we really tried to capture, from a look perspective, the feel of the bay, this nod to boats and various other tweaks particularly with the interiors.”

The hotel is thought to have been originally built in 1925.

“There’s a bit of confusion about when it was built but there’s a few people that reached out to me whose grandfathers had helped build the building,” Ms Tomlinson said.

“There’s a brick in the hotel that we’re trying to salvage and this brick has an engraving of the initials and ‘1925’, so we presume the hotel went up in 1925.

“One of the things we’re doing at the moment is trying to gather stories from people in the community who have visited because I guess it’s quite an iconic hotel for the area.

“I’ve got a few meetings with various people that claim their families helped build it, I’ve also got another meeting with someone called Ashley who ran the hotel for a number of years.

“There are loads of people with their own different stories which makes it really interesting.”

The connection Runswick Bay locals have with the building is strong, Ms Tomlinson said.

“There are a lot of people over generations who have used Cliffemount throughout.

“One couple got married at Cliffemount, we used it one New Year when my granddad was alive. So it holds a lot of precious memories for a lot of people.

“What we’re going to be doing is continuing to talk to [the community], bringing out memories, and making sure that people don’t forget its history.

“So we’ll have a nod to various elements of that throughout the interiors and we’ll keep people involved.

“We’re not forgetting what has been, all we’re doing now is trying to develop what has been and preserve it for the future.

“It’s our responsibility now to ensure that it does last for generations. They will be keen for a family that’s got a presence in the village to continue that.”