Our history

Five generations of exceptional service from the Young Family

Our beautiful hotel in Newquay was established by Howard and Minnie Young in 1927. Their endeavours were so successful that just seven years later, in 1934, they were able to expand the hotel to its current size. In those days, guests could only book for a one week or two week period and, of course, all guests were expected to ‘Dress for dinner!’.

When the party years of the 1930s were brought to an abrupt end by the start of the Second World War, the hotel played its part in the war effort by becoming a second home to the evacuated pupils of Benenden School. Despite the absence of playing fields, hockey and lacrosse continued – on Tolcarne Beach! 

We joined the Best Western Group of hotels in 1993. Since then, the hotel continues to be unique and independently-run, and is currently managed by long-time employee Lukasz Wilczkowski. To keep the past alive, some of the art deco interiors have been retained, and where needed, carefully restored.

In September 2021 the hotel was sold by the Young family to Manchester-based property developer, Salboy. Now working closely with Lukasz’s team, Salboy has continued to operate the hotel with the same ethos of friendly professionalism championed by its previous owners along with a renewed ambition to return the hotel to its former glory as a must-stay destination on the Newquay seafront.

You can read a history of the hotel written in 2002 by Stuart Young when we celebrated 75 years: History by Stuart Young.

We love to delve into the history of the hotel and its guests, and would appreciate receiving your stories as we continue to update & expand our memoirs. Please send them to [email protected]

Why ‘Hotel Bristol’? – the hotel's founder travelled in Europe and found the best hotels were called ‘Hotel Bristol’, and later lived in the city after getting married.