Malvern Alumnae 100 Profile

Georgie Pearman

Georgie Oram Hawkins, MGC, 1991 Leaver

Georgie and her husband, Sam, started The Lucky Onion Group, a Cotswolds-based hotel and restaurant group, eight years ago. The flagship is No 131 in Cheltenham which is a small boutique hotel.  Georgie and Sam have won, amongst other awards, Tatler’s Best of Britain in 2016 and have been finalists for the GQ Magazine’s Hotel Awards. Their venues have won Tatler’s Best 101 Hotels in the World and The Times Best Foodie Hotel. They decided to leave in 2017 and start their new venture Country Creatures which now has three sites (a hotel, an inn and a restaurant). Georgie also has a small bath & body brand called 100 Acres Apothecary which is sold in Liberty and other selected retailers.

Formerly, Georgie was a corporate Mergers & Acquisitions lawyer in the City, but wanted to change track when she had a family. Sam was managing Michelin-starred restaurants in London but wanted his own so they decided to leave London and move to the Cotswolds. They found a small, boarded up restaurant in Cheltenham and started the Royal Well Tavern. Within 9 months, they had a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

They went on to add two country inns, a pub and two small hotels. Sam focused on the food, wine and restaurant operations whilst Georgie focused on the sales, marketing and new projects.

Georgie says she had such an idyllic childhood in Malvern. Malvern was, and still is such a good environment for children to develop into young adults. All her old MGC friends still meet up about once a year as a larger group although she does see some of them more regularly, often in London. They are life-long friends and recently four of them went to Paris together.

What does success look like?

I’m not sure.  I don’t really strive to be successful but I’d like to think, when I’m nearing the end of my life, I can look back and say it was happy, well lived, amongst good friends and with my lovely family by my side.  Nothing could be better than that.

What is your best piece of advice?

I don’t think I should give anyone any advice just because my journey has been full of ups and downs.  However, I do say to my children that this life is a long journey and that they will fail and succeed along the way but none of it really matters. Just try to have a fun life, filled with interesting and kind people and avoid the evil ones!