Successful hotelier called on to ‘breathe life’ into Sherbourne House Hotel in Attleborough

A multi award-winning Hotelier has been enlisted to “breathe life” back into a town hotel steeped in history.

Gez Chetal, who owns The Thomas Paine Hotel in Thetford, has taken over as a management consultant at Sherbourne House Hotel in Attleborough this week.

The owners of the hotel, who live in Hamburg, Germany, asked Mr Chetal to help them achieve their goals as he has at his establishment.

“They contacted me about three months ago and said they had seen in the press how well I have done at The Thomas Paine and they wanted to talk to me to see if I could help them,” he said.

“They said after the pandemic it has been hard for them as it had for hospitality as a whole and because they live in Germany they wanted someone to take Sherbourne House to the next level and where they wanted the place to be.”

As well as bringing more than 40 years of expertise in the industry to the eight-bedroom hotel, Mr Chetal says he will also bring a contractor agreement he has at his Thetford hotel which will fill the rooms of the Norwich Road hotel throughout 2025.

“This place is such a beautiful building, built in 1740, with lovely bedrooms which I really adore the same as The Thomas Paine,” he said.

“The two places have such a lot of history within them and I now class this as our sister hotel.”

Asked what plans he had in mind for the Georgian country house hotel, Mr Chetal said he would do the same as he did at his hotel when he first took over in 2013.

“With the help of my wife Rosy who is head chef at The Thomas Paine we are going to look at nice cuisine and also look at afternoon teas which are highly popular there,” he said.

“Using the beautiful grounds and building we want to do functions and we will be applying for a civil ceremony licence.

“Breathing life back into this place and making this wonderful building shine for the local community is important to us, with their support I feel we can do just that.”

Mr Chetal is also looking for stories connected to the hotel and is asking for anyone who has been associated with it over the years to contact him.

Rooms at Sherbourne House Hotel are open, with the food and beverage side of the hotel set to fully open at the end of September.