About us

A Family Affair… The Hotel Wroxham and our story

In 1967 Mr Leslie Trafford acquired the famous Powell’s boat yard, and his vision was to build a vibrant hotel on the banks of the river Bure adjacent to his new shopping centre. The hotel was an architectural and iconic landmark on the Broads and opened in 1972 to great applause. It was hugely successful. If you look from our balconies and riverside terrace you will see the extent of Leslie’s vision, over the years most of the properties you see were developed by the Trafford’s. From all accounts Leslie was an amazing and successful businessman and was both inspirational and totally driven, he sadly died in 1989. The hotel has had various tenants over the years but unfortunately fell into decline over several decades fuelled by a severe lack of investment, in fact the whole area of Wroxham seemed to be exhausted. The numbers of visitors dwindled, and it became a very sad story, an iconic building that had helped create so many fond memories were literally collapsing.

In 2015 we sold our successful business in Horning and my daughters and I acquired the property in August 2015. So, then our journey and new chapter of life began. Our vision and mission were to bring this dated hotel back to life, our dream project. We immediately started on a refurbishment programme and literally hit the floor running. Every area has needed addressing and it has been continuous, we anticipate a further two years of development before we are truly happy. We are presently at planning application with an exciting new conservatory and new luxury bedrooms planned to start work in 2021 and 2022 you will be seeing further new seating areas and landscaping. Sorry, there are constantly workmen, decorators and skips!

Our overriding ethos and aim are to make you feel warm and welcome. Our position is unrivalled, the décor fresh, our food is casual, contemporary, inspired and local, the growing number of staff are loyal and dedicated. People are returning and with the continuous support of our lovely locals and returning happy visitors the business is vibrant and flourishing. We totally support our Norfolk heritage and buy locally and recruit locally. We hope to carry on bringing further prosperity to the area as we continue to grow. Indeed, we have noticed more guests and visitors and we are thrilled to report huge amounts of further business investment being poured into Wroxham.  Our lovely hotel has taken on a new lease of life and has started breathing again. A unique memorable place and place once more where memories are being created.

As a family we are totally driven, dedicated, passionate and committed to the continuing success of our business and we are thoroughly enjoying our journey.  Should you return you will see a constantly evolving picture, and we will hopefully continue going from strength to strength and this will be a place that Norfolk and Mr Trafford can once again be proud of! We are very proud of our achievements to date and anticipate a further two more years of improvements! We thank everybody for their continued support over the last three years and for helping our dreams and vision come true. 

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