The PIG acquires 17th century manor house and village pub

Hotel group The PIG has announced the acquisition of Barnsley House, a luxury spa hotel in the Cotswolds that comes complete with its own pub.

Expected to open this summer, near the Cotswolds village of Barnsley (and four miles from Cirencester), The PIG – and The Village Pub promises to combine two things that don’t always go together – spa treatments and a good gastro-boozer.

The main property itself, Barnsley House, already has a spa, though construction of the building itself began in 1667, the year after the Great Fire of London, on the orders of local notable Brereton Bourchier.

Called The Boot, the pub that comes as part of the package is described on Barnsley House’s current website as a “Cotswolds country inn, with hearty pub fare that’s a cut above what you might expect”. It also promises a selection of “premium wines and classic beers”, with the latter served in “bespoke pewter tankards”.

Dishes such as roast celeriac soup, Bathurst Estate fallow venison, and a Scotch egg, as well as a range of classic Sunday roasts, are prepared by head chef John Jewell and his team. It is not clear whether The PIG intends to change The Boot’s menu.

The hotel also boasts of a kitchen garden, which currently supplies it’s on-site restaurant The Potager. The PIG has not yet revealed its plans for The Potager.

The PIG chairman Robin Hutson said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have acquired Barnsley House, it has been in my peripheral vision for many years as a possible acquisition, always thinking it would make a perfect PIG and we are very excited to have our first pub too.”

Barnsley House will continue to operate as normal until 4 February, when it will be shut for The PIG team to make their adjustments and put the group’s mark on it.

In addition to this Cotswolds acquisition, The PIG is due to open two other sites in the coming two years: The PIG – on the farm (Stratford-Upon-Avon) at the end of 2024, and The PIG – at Groombridge (Tunbridge Wells) in summer 2025. Part of the reason why The PIG near Barnsley is opening sooner is because it requires less work, as The PIG website put it: “…this little gem of a property has all the makings of a PIG already weaved into its DNA”.

At present, there are eight The PIGs open, including the original location in the New Forest, as well as its South Downs outpost, which was recently reviewed by Wine List Confidential author Douglas Blyde.