A shining addition to Belfast's hotel offering, offering stunning views over Belfast City Hall and combining five-star service with deep heritage, The Bedford Hotel has been a long time in gestation. And at the helm of the prestigious hostelry is hospitality sector veteran Mike Gatt.
It's almost a generation since the turn-of-the-last-century insurance offices, over time remodelled as multi-use spaces which included the studio of artist Rita Duffy, were first mooted as a flagship hotel for the city.
However, when government funding for restoration work dried up, owners the Hill brothers — best-known for their Galgorm Spa and Hotel — decided the Scottish Mutual Building was not for them. Enter Liverpool developer Lawrence Kenwright in 2017 with plans for a George Best-themed hotel which sounded, and not without reason, too good to be true. For years, small investors who piled in to the offer, advertised among other places on Twitter, were mired in legal proceedings in an effort to recoup their savings.
The cavalry finally arrived in 2022 in the form of RFM hotels of Derry who acquired the property with the aim of turning it into a premium hotel - a dream now realised in the shape of the 82-bedroom The Bedford Hotel.
The Grade B1 listed Scottish Baronial-style property dates back to 1904, making it just a year older than its City Hall neighbour. HISTORIC: Original tile work by immigrant Italian craftsmen preserved in corridors of The Bedford Hotel 
The hotel on the corner of Bedford Street and Donegall Square South in the city centre features a destination restaurant and café bar led by famed chef Noel McMeel. 32 of its rooms have retained the steel-doored corner vaults used by insurance agents to store cash weekly fees collected door-to-door from punters across the city and the ledgers in which their payments were recorded.
"From the ornate stonework to the high-end interior craftsmanship, the hotel blends Edwardian grandeur with contemporary international standards," boasts the Bedford Hotel website.
And now, tasked with the job of putting the Bedford Hotel on the map is hotel heavy-hitter Mike Gatt.
"As a proud Belfast Man, I have admired this landmark building all my life," Mike told the Irish Echo.
"As a hospitality professional, getting the opportunity to bring back to life and manage Belfast’s flagship hotel within these walls, I look upon as an honour. While the facade and structure of the building is impressive, this is matched by the service and professionalism of my team who are passionate about the Bedford Hotel Belfast."
