AMENDED plans submitted to Waverley Borough Council in December for an “enabling” residential development to fund a £2m refurbishment of High Street cornerstone The Georgian Hotel are also on display in the lobby through January.

Full consent is sought for the renovation of Haslemere’s historic Grade II listed building, to be funded by changing the use of the modern hotel block behind into 16 apartments and building three mews cottages on the overflow car park.

The money raised from the residential development will fund the transformation of the historic High Street building into a 12-bedroom ‘boutique’ hotel, which will be managed by Cirrus, a successful hospitaity operator that oversees a network of 25 independently-owned inns around the UK.

Managing The Georgian will be extra special for Cirrus chief executive Alexander ‘Langy’ Pearse, who also co-founded the Epicurean Club, because he lives in Haslemere.

Georgian owner Lannister House, which is spearheaded by a Haslemere-based entrepreneur and backed by five local families, acquired the hotel from administrators in 2017. The consortium re-opened the hotel and put in place a new business plan to secure its future after the business was placed in administration twice in the last three years. The group maintain their plan for The Georgian is the only way to secure its future.

Floor plans and images showing how the hotel’s interiors will be refreshed and revitalised are now on public display in the hotel lobby.

The plans include a new public bar, a function space/restaurant to cater for up to 150 guests, private dining areas and an external garden. The hotel’s kitchen is being enlarged to cater for up to 1,200 meals a day and the hotel’s 12 bedrooms and public spaces will all be renovated.

Lannister House chief executive Richard Angel said: “If we are successful in securing a planning permission, we will look to get going on the hotel renovation and refurbishment works straight away so Cirrus can be ready to open for summer 2019.

“I do hope that people will pop into to see our plans over the next few weeks. The hotel is very tired and desperately in need of investment.”