London Golf Club in Kent has been given the green light to develop a multi-million pound luxury resort.
The Ash-based club submitted a proposal for a new 240-bedroom hotel, spa, sports pavilion and luxury lodges as part of a multi-million pound development in 2024, and local council planning committees have given the project the go-ahead.
A new sports turf academy, including a classroom and 3G football pitch will be built, while padel and tennis courts, equestrian facilities and a natural swimming lake also form part of the plans. A new pavilion building will feature a children’s club, fitness studios, and additional food and drink options.
The new facilities will join the club’s two Jack Nicklaus-designed 18-hole courses – The Heritage and The International – to transform the club into a more family-friendly, year-round destination, rather than just a seasonal venue for golfers.
A new golf academy and driving range are included in the plans to upgrade the facilities
South Ash Manor is to be converted into a wedding venue with guest bedrooms
The development will be carried out in phases over the next five years, with the first stage seeing the conversion of the Grade II-listed South Ash Manor into a wedding venue with guest bedrooms.
Stephen Follett, who has been chief executive at the London Golf Club since 2016, said the additions would help boost the status of the club and put it on the map internationally, as well as increase its chances of a successful bid for the Ryder Cup in 2035.
Speaking to Kent Online, Stephen said: “The project first came about because of a Ryder Cup bid that we were involved in, and our hospitality offering was the weakest part of it. So that’s when we started to look at the planning. We had an existing planning permission for a 140-bedroom hotel, but it wasn’t enough for what we wanted to achieve. So, the project then grew arms and legs to where we are today, and I think really what we’d like to achieve is a turnkey solution for any event, both on a global scale, a national scale, but also on a local scale.
“The idea was to take our existing footprint – we are a golf club with a 36-hole golf course – and add a resort feel to that. That was then to create the hotel, the lodges, the pavilion, the turf academy, the equestrian centre, and to really create a nationally recognised resort. Yes, we’d like to be able to host like the Ryder Cup or any big golf events that are potentially in the marketplace, but we’d also like to be able to hold major conferences and events. We’re building the kind of infrastructure that is expected at world-class venues.”
Luxury tree-top lodges form part of the plans to transform the club into a leisure resort (all pics courtesy of Hollaway Studio)
The project is now in the design stage, with Hythe-based architects Hollaway Studio spearheading the works, the first stage of which, the renovation of South Ash Manor, is expected to begin next year, although no precise timetable has yet been put in place.
Follett added: “We’ve been on a journey to get to this point. We’ve really only just completed phase one, the planning process, and that took us almost two years. We’re now in a stage of really detailed work in terms of the overall design and the interiors. In order to achieve planning permission, there were various conditions, so it will probably take us a year to work through those now. But I’d like to think that sometime, probably a year from now, you’ll see a digger coming down the drive or a high-vis jacket that would give us a sign that it really has started.”
