The building & renovation
31 Hawley Square was built in the 1770s as a guest-house for London gentry enjoying the newfound benefits of sea bathing and Margate's cultural offering. By the 1920s, the house was a busy guest house. In the 1960s18-year-old Bob Calvert's inherited the management of the house, which became a bohemian hangout as he co-founded Hawkwind. By the 1980s the building had become ten bedsits.
In 2007 Louise and Liam completely restored the building and opened it as as a boutique guest-house in 2009. They reinstated the original Georgian proportions and stripped the walls back to reveal historic finishes, complete with the scars of use and time. New additions, such as the luxurious bathrooms are high end contemporary designs. Custom mixed lime paints compliment the historic finishes. The approach was inspired from growing up in Florence and follows principles of the Venice Charter for the Conservation of Ancient buildings. This combination of ancient and contemporary design became synonymous with Margate's regeneration since The Reading Rooms opened in 2009.
Liam & Louise
Louise and Liam are both northern English - Louise from Sheffield, Liam from Bury - yet they met and lived in Italy in the 90s.
Liam grew up in Florence. Moving there n 1975, with his mother, the author Magdalen Nabb, They Staying at the Pensione Bartolini that inspired Ian Flemming's "Room With A View" and then in Casa Guidi, and then in the, apartment that was once home to Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. He studied fine art and then architecture there in Florence before becoming a well known alternative DJ.
Liam & Louise returned to London in 1998 to run a creative agency and then moved into renovating historic buildings. They moved to Margate in 2007. Married at the Tom Thumb Theatre. They opened the Reading Rooms in 2009. The renovation journey was featiured in a channel 4 program
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Today, as well as running the The Reading Rooms, Liam works as an architectural designer and Louise is now, after years running local community campaigns (No Tesco at Arlington and Thanet Press), is studying an MA in naval and coastal history.
The Reading Rooms B&B
Inspiration for The Reading Rooms’ name comes from Margate’s 18th-century heyday when visitors to Margate were entertained in a variety of spas and reading rooms throughout the town. There was a famous library on Hawley Square itself, called Bettison’s Library, which housed one of the largest collections of the finest journals of the era.
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The renovation was followed by Channel 4 in their "Hotel Rescue" programme - Despite the
"Incompetent Couple Try To Renovate Bedsit Into a Chic Hotel" premise Louise & Liam bonded with the presenter hotelier, Ruth Watson, who became a friend and returned to stay. Margate has really changed since then!
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The Reading Rooms also invited to become part of the Mr&Mr Smith collection and was nominated 3 times as best small hotel in the world.
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The Reading Rooms was the winner of Dorset Cereals best overall bed and breakfast in their 2016 awards. See the video
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