The Great House Hotel & Restaurant, Lavenham

Dear Customers & Friends

It is with great sadness my wife and I must announce the closure of The Great House as of Sunday 25th September 2022, at least for the time being. Staff shortages together with deteriorating health condition on my part, are the main reasons why this difficult decision has been taken by both of us.

This is happening at a time when we are experiencing the hotel and restaurant is at its busiest for a long time, with present bookings and months ahead looking very buoyant; at times, we have had to turn bookings away. We will be honouring as many bookings as we can until we close on 25th September 2022.

The Great House Restaurant’s food is due to receive a prestigious accolade, in September Chef Patron, Swann, will travel to London to receive a well-deserved award. This is a just reward achieved for the high culinary standard together with the excellent level of service provided. I have no doubt more awards would have followed in the future if we were able to remain open.

Chef Patron, Swann, has also been selected to represent The Great House at a nationwide professional culinary competition in early October, a mark of his undoubted experience and expertise.

We can’t express how difficult it is to say goodbye to The Great House, this is an extremely sad time from a professional point of view but also a personal one. To have to say goodbye to the team who we have worked with for many years is very hard, some are compatriots, others from different parts of the world. Having worked with them for four years or so it will leave a huge void in our life.

I want to thank all of the team for their support and excellent work they have given us. To everyone who has supported us in the past few years, we say thank you very much and hope that one day The Great House will reopen again with the taste of French cuisine enjoyed in this little corner of Suffolk, Lovely Lavenham.

Dr DA Tropeano OBE