hotelThe Hotel Inspector · Season 5, Episode 2 · Aired July 13, 2009
The Walpole Bay Hotel
Margate, England
Open. The rescue stuck and it continues to operate.
On the show
Season 5, Episode 2 · July 13, 2009 · hotel
revisited in Series 9 (2012-08-30)
What happened after
Period 1914-built family-run hotel undergoing ongoing restoration by the Bishop family; multiple active booking platforms.
What happened on the show
The Walpole Bay, an Edwardian hotel in Margate, was reaching crisis point when Alex Polizzi arrived in series 5. The trouble ran through the family that owned it: Polizzi found herself refereeing feuding relatives while trying to give a fading venture a future. A hotel of this age and character has heritage on its side, but a family at war undermines every operational decision, and Polizzi's work here was as much mediation as management. Her aim was to steady the ownership enough that the Cliftonville property, built in 1914, could trade on its considerable period charm rather than its internal conflict, giving the Bishop family a workable path forward. The mediation aired in July 2009, and the show returned in series 9 in 2012, confirming the Bishop family had held the fading Edwardian hotel together.
After the cameras left
The Walpole Bay is still open, still family-run, and still being lovingly worked on. The 1914 hotel remains under the Bishop family, who continue an ongoing restoration, and it carries active listings across multiple booking platforms as of 2026. The show returned in series 9 in 2012 for a revisit, confirming continuity through that period. A property that Polizzi found at crisis point, weighed down by family friction, is now a durable Margate institution, evidence that the mediation half of her job sometimes mattered more than the design.
Sources
Confidence: high. Last checked 2026-07-19.