Luxury: the term holds such varying degrees of meaning. To some, it may mean rooftop pools, a private butler service and gold-plated faucets in the bathroom; but to others it may be defined as the porter caring to remember your name, comfortable plush linen to lounge upon or of an open wood fireplace. Dan Brod, co-owner of The Beckford Group, leans toward the latter option and believes that luxury is all about genuineness and personality. We couldn’t agree more.

“What you want in any type of hotel is a feeling of authenticity,” explains Dan, “anybody can make rooms look beautiful and buy really lovely furniture, that’s actually kind of easy. The hard bit is the atmosphere and the personality”.

Beau Monde Traveler recently met with Dan to discuss his hospitality ventures, the reality of co-owning a successful stretch of quintessential British countryside pub-hotels, and how refocusing on personal experiences is helping to redefine the luxury catering industry.

A stay in the British countryside is a favourite pastime for many, but too often people are left with no option but to decide between rundown pub-hotel hybrids complete with old pine furniture or expensive manor houses – where guests must wear a stiff blazer just to enjoy breakfast before 9am. Uncomfortable, to say the least. In response, Dan and his partners Charlie Luxton and Matt Greenlees set about on a mission to bring life back into quintessential country stays, still beloved by many travellers.

Dan is down to earth and charismatic; he notes on mutual observations about the hospitality industry and what luxury means to different people. “I think it’s a really interesting idea, of thinking about luxury,” he states, “I wouldn’t say we [The Beckford Group] are luxurious in the conventional way. It’s about having a nice walk, and it’s a bit muddy and rainy, you come in and there’s a lovely fire, and the people remember your name.”

Prior to his time building a hospitality empire, Dan worked as a venture capitalist of sorts, helping creators of scientific inventions turn their creations into companies. It’s an interesting field of work, and certainly not one seemingly attached to the spritely man who speaks so fondly now of hospitality and not of science nor of capital investment. At 27, Dan took a break from the corporate life and trained as a Chef at the esteemed Conran Restaurant Group. After just six months, he threw in the towel and instead floated between London’s affluent café scene. It was only when discussing potential restaurant ownership with long-time friend Charlie Luxton, previously of Soho House, that Dan’s plans for something new and exciting came to fruition.

The Beckford Group comprises of a series of humble hospitality ventures, including four pub-hotel hybrids dotted throughout the South West of England and two charming bottle shops that serve as “small plates” bistros which serve wine and charcuterie. The four pub-hotels are The Beckford Arms and The Bath Arms in Wiltshire and The Talbot Inn and The Lord Poulett Arms in Somerset. The Beckford Arms was the first of Dan’s adventures, which came to culmination after a failed attempt at opening a restaurant in Notting Hill in London in 2009.

“We weren’t focused on making money – and I think that’s a really important thing in all hospitality. The money comes, you’ve got to make money to stay in business, but really it’s about being generous to the guests,” Dan explains. There may not be gold-plated faucets in The Beckford Arms or its sister pub-hotels, but there are certain special touches that provide hints of unpretentious luxury, such as the bespoke full-size toiletries designed for Dan’s hotels.

The products were first used in The Beckford Arms, called Bramley. Due to the popularity of the Bramley products, Dan and his team expanded the range, sharing the essence of the British countryside in soaps, shampoos, candles and even doggy shampoo. In the bathroom, the towels are plush and of the finer quality variety. This is mirrored in the bedrooms too and the beds which comprise Siberian goose down duvets are all too welcoming.

The debate of “is it a hotel, is it a pub” is on the table. Some would look at the refined details, the rustic charm and the generosity of full-size bespoke soaps and claim it is a charming boutique hotel. Others might not even consider the rooms, instead claiming it as a local drinking spot for Fridays after work. Dan concludes that it’s a pub, but with rooms – and that’s all to do with the charm. “The key characteristic is the pub element, that’s why you go and stay there, for that sort of atmosphere,” Dan concludes, “there’s a mixture of locals, which are real and genuine, and visitors, and that creates that kind of energy.”

Although there are some consistencies between the pub-hotels, they are all unique in their own way, offering up different surroundings and charm dictated by the atmosphere of locals who claim the pubs as their drinking spot. Dan acknowledges, “they’re all very different – they all have their own personalities and what we don’t have any interest in is being a chain.”

Dan’s self-proclamation of the properties being “humble” and “modest” do ring true, but there’s an elevation in the delivery of each of them. The attention to detail in the rooms is impeccable, and both The Beckford Arms and Bath Arms were awarded Michelin plates in 2021, demonstrating excellent cookery and atmosphere in dining. These are no ordinary sleepy village pubs, rather they’re a demonstration of careful consideration and the marriage between contemporary luxury and classic British predilections.

On top of the co-ownership of four properties, two bottle shops and a bathroom products range, Dan and his colleagues Charlie and Matt also run a consultancy business aimed at sharing their expertise of the hospitality industry with others. The business appeals to the quality, “five-star end” of hospitality and is predominantly in boutique hotels but also goes on to include hands-on informal consultancy in restaurants, functions, pubs and bars.

On top of the co-ownership of four properties, two bottle shops and a bathroom products range, Dan and his colleagues Charlie and Matt also run a consultancy business aimed at sharing their expertise of the hospitality industry with others. The business appeals to the quality, “five-star end” of hospitality and is predominantly in boutique hotels but also goes on to include hands-on informal consultancy in restaurants, functions, pubs and bars.

As for the future, there’s always something new on the horizon for Dan, Charlie and Matt. Over the lockdown period they penned a book on how to be a waiter – because believe it or not, it’s difficult to find such a manifesto anywhere. Dan enlightens that in this book, they have tried to “capture our ethos and put that back into our staff.”

When asked if Dan has any advice for future hospitality staff or hoteliers, his answer is simple: “If you don’t like looking after people or giving people a good time: don’t do this. You’ve got to absolutely care about looking after people.” The efforts of Dan and his comrades has paid off and their entrepreneurial way of thinking has led them to great heights. “We’ve sort of helped reinvent a new genre in British hospitality,” Dan reveals.

Whether one considers the properties a pub or hotel, the defining line is that regardless, they bother to offer a reinvented version of luxury only found in the British countryside. Dan Brod, the passionate proletarian, a man of rustic charm himself, can consider himself proud of the work he and his colleagues have achieved thus far. The pub-hotels of The Beckford Group; The Beckford Arms, The Talbot Inn, The Bath Arms and The Lord Poulett Arms are perfect for escaping the often-suffocating business of London. Dan shares that there are new prospects on the horizon – such as potential for a new hotel, which is exciting to say the least, but for now we can join him in celebrating genuine, humble, luxury in South East England.