Latest News
The busy summer season is about to start but Christmas is already in the air in the kitchens of Great Yarmouth's Imperial Hotel. Chefs have been busy preparing the hotel's trademark Christmas puddings for next year's festive season diners.
Joan Smith winning" Camplings Housekeeper of the Year!! Nominated by Nick and Aileen, and judged by camplings she was presented yesterday with a bottle of champage,a certificate, a tin of Chocolates and £100 to spend in a restaurant of her choice.
She was surprised and delighted
Nick and Aileen Mobbs celebrated with Paula and her husband Andy, her 25 years service at the Imperial Hotel with a dinner in Cafe Cru,and a thank you gift in a little box!!
Paula started work at the Imperial straight from college in 1986 where she did catering and was first employed as a waitress. She then moved into reception and in 2003 became the hotel Manager. Nick and Aileen are very grateful to Paula for her huge contribution to the success of the hotel and for the support she has given them,"We do not know how we would have managed without her!". She is very much considered part of the family and we look forward to the next 25 years.
The hotel has completed a £60,000 + programme of energy saving measures spanning the last 18 months.
Biggest change has been the replacement of its two ancient and cumbersome one-time oil -fired boilers which were converted when North Sea gas became available in the UK, around 40-45 years ago.
A £40,000 redevelopment has seen them replaced by eight wall-hung mini condensing boilers which should use at least 20% less gas as well as being more efficient and reliable.
The vast roof area has been completely insulated and a voltage optimiser introduced on the premises which should cut total electricity consumption by 7% by reducing the level of supply.
More than 150 new low-energy ceiling lights have been installed across all floors of the hotel with LED bulbs brought in everywhere.
Heat exchangers have been introduced to take latent heat out of the air and pump it back where needed and panels have been placed behind all radiators to reflect the heat and prevent wastage.
"I'm not an eco-warrior but the energy saving measures make good business sense and I just think everyone should do what they can to reduce carbon emissions," said hotel director Nick Mobbs.
"It's expensive but there is a payback over around 10 years and there are instant cuts in bills and clear savings on fuel usage.
"One hotel corridor which has to be lit 24/7 for safety reasons will now cost around £40 instead of £400 a year in power - and it is better lit!
"The advantage of the new boilers is enormous. It just needed someone to turn on a hot tap anywhere in the hotel and one of the massive old boilers would have to crank up. Now each small one comes on only as it is needed."
The hotel has completed a major refurbishment of its Sandown Suite, the 40-year-old function room which is increasingly popular for conferences of up to 120 delegates as well as staging weddings and dinner-dances for up to 150 guests.
"It says much about inflation that it cost £24,000 to build the extension in 1971 and it has cost twice that much just for the refurbishment," said director Nick Mobbs.
Improvements include a new bar, new carpeting, a restored wooden floor, new windows, full redecoration and a major rewiring to create easy central access to electricity, phone and projection points.
A series of landscape paintings by local artist Gareth Hacon are among the finishing touches.
Another four bedrooms have also been tastefully refurbished as part of our rolling programme to bring all 39 of them bang up to date. Fresh décor, new furnishings, cushioned floors, trendy televisions and Wi-Fi links are included.
Café Cru chefs Simon Wainwright, Mark Dixon and Peter Clarke cooked up a feast at the Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival on September 4th and 5th.
Joined by Daniel Smith of The Swan at Ingham, they presented a series of cookery demonstrations using maritime ingredients. The menu included wild Atlantic halibut, pan-seared scallops and roasted cod fillet.
There was double delight for staff and management as Great Yarmouth's Imperial Hotel took two top honours in the town's tourist trade awards.
The Imperial was named Hotel of the Year and its self-contained Café Cru took the Restaurant of the Year title in the Greater Yarmouth Tourist Authority Awards.
"We're not used to getting awards. I think we've been around so long and striving to perform at the highest possible level that people tend to take us for granted," said Nick Mobbs, proprietor of the family-run hotel.
"So we were particularly thrilled to receive both awards, judged by fellow members of the tourist authority - professional people in the trade who are perhaps the hardest to please."
The awards come after more than a quarter of a million pounds worth of investment in the business over the past two years and follow its achievement in becoming the town's only AA four-star hotel.
Improvements include the restyled Café Cru, the new-look Bar Fizz and upgrading to bedrooms and other facilities.
"It is often tougher to sustain a hotel at the top level than it is to get it there," said Nick. "I think judges look out for new people or new developments for the awards so it means a lot to us, and is a great tribute to our staff, to be recognised in such a way this time. There was particular praise too for our commitment to customers, quality and training.
"Now we will be inspired to surpass even those high standards. We were delighted to hear a loyal customer say the other day that our food just gets better and better. That is our aim throughout the business."
| 01493 842000 | Imperial Hotel, North Drive, |
| reservations@imperialhotel.co.uk | Great Yarmouth, Norfolk NR30 1EQ |
