About FJB Hotels

FJB Hotels is a family owned business founded by Frederick John (FJ to friends and family) Butterworth.

The company’s origins are not in hotels, but in theatre, running at one time a chain of eighteen variety theatres throughout England making it the largest, privately owned, theatre company in the country. Tribute to the age of music hall is fittingly paid at The Chine hotel, often used by visiting artists playing at the Royal Ballrooms (now the Opera House) with a magnificent display of photographs of stars of the day.

In the 1950s, FJ recognised the decline in popularity of live theatre and moved his interests, almost exclusively, to hotels. The Company has retained the beautiful Richmond Theatre in Surrey, currently leased to the Ambassadors Theatre Group, for ‘old time’s sake’.

Over the next thirty years, many hotels were bought and sold, primarily in the Bournemouth area and latterly on the Sandbanks peninsula. There was also one hotel, The Grosvenor, across the water in Swanage, sold in 1985 but which has always held a special place in the heart of the present Managing Director, John Butterworth, son of the late founder.

The Group is now comprised of four superb hotels, The Haven, The Sandbanks and Harbour Heights hotels on the Sandbanks peninsula and The Chine hotel in Boscombe.

The Company’s other, and highly diverse, interests include:

• Royal Arcade, Boscombe – Beautiful Victorian shopping arcade just a ten minutes’ walk from the Chine Hotel (purchased 1945).
• The Opera House in Bournemouth-Following a multi million pound restoration, the Opera House has been leased to Academy Music Group. Renamed the O2 Academy Bournemouth, the venue will continue to host some of the finest and most popular names in the music industry.
• Villa de Marvol – beautifully appointed Napoleonic villa set in nine acres of wooded gardens in the Dordogne region of France (purchased 1988).
• Grosvenor Marine – Haven Star – 40 ft. catamaran – the latest (and biggest) in a long line of vessels owned by the Company (purchased 2006).
• The Watersports Academy – at The Sandbanks hotel and offering an amazing range of water sports facilities with something for everyone – from the novice to the expert (opened 2008).
• Chine Academy - Based in the business centre at The Chine, Chine Academy provides intensive residential English language courses designed to meet the specific learning needs of each individual student. Every course is unique because every student is unique! We also offer a range of non-residential courses for students wishing to stay longer.
  Our qualified tutors are experienced in delivering relevant and challenging one-to-one and group programmes. Residential students can also put their language skills to the test in the hotel, over lunch with staff in the award-winning restaurant or at one of the social and sporting activities which can be incorporated into the course.
  For course bookings and further information about our bespoke training programmes, please e-mail:
   info@chineacademy.com  Alternatively, visit the website: www.chineacademy.com