What Cottesmore Golf & Country Club does

Cottesmore Golf & Country Club is a family-owned leisure and hospitality business operating from a 150-acre estate in West Sussex, UK, in close proximity to Gatwick Airport. Founded in 1973 and now in third-generation family management under Johnny and Louisa Porter, the club serves a capacity membership of approximately 2,000 individual and corporate subscribers alongside transient guests and event bookers. The estate comprises 27 holes of golf (an 18-hole championship course plus a 9-hole course), a clubhouse rebuilt by April 2020 after a 2018 fire destroyed roughly two-thirds of the original building, 26 hotel bedrooms, 7 self-catering lodges, and on-site spa, beauty, and fitness facilities. The company is Carbon Neutral Accredited, operates with a workforce of 501–1,000 staff, and positions itself as a multi-vertical leisure destination rather than a pure golf club.

The business monetises the asset across several parallel revenue streams: recurring memberships (adult tier ~£94/month, corporate ~£86/month), pay-and-play and member golf, hotel and lodge accommodation, weddings and corporate events (with venue capacity up to 200 guests), food and beverage across member and visitor dining, and beauty/wellness services including spa, Lynton laser hair removal, and BodiTrax body composition scanning. Pricing across verticals is consistent with mid-to-upper UK country club positioning, and the capacity-capped membership model indicates a waitlist-driven subscriber base.

Customer acquisition is primarily local and regional UK leisure demand, Gatwick-adjacent inbound visitors, and a structured wedding and corporate events pipeline. Distribution channels include the club's own website and booking infrastructure, an integrated Playtomic padel booking layer, and a dedicated wedding sales function, with on-property conversion once guests arrive. The model is asset-heavy and operationally broad, with each vertical contributing incremental utilisation to a fixed real-estate and labour base.

Name

Cottesmore Golf & Country Club

Legal name

Cottesmore Hotel, Golf & Country Club

Website

https://cottesmoregolf.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1973

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Cottesmore Golf & Country Club is a family-owned UK country club on a 150-acre West Sussex estate near Gatwick, offering 27 holes of golf, 26 hotel rooms, 7 lodges, spa, weddings, and F&B to about 2,000 members and visiting guests.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Golf and Country Club Hospitality

NAICS

Golf Courses and Country Clubs (71391), Golf Courses and Country Clubs (713910), Hotels (except Casino Hotels) and Motels (72111)

SIC

Services-Membership Sports & Recreation Clubs (7997), Hotels, Rooming Houses, Camps & Other Lodging Places (7000), Hotels & Motels (7011)

akta.pro primary industry

Golf Courses & Golf Facilities (MPAKAEAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Golf & Leisure Full-Service Hotels (THAGAAAH), Destination Spa Resorts (THAGAMAA), Luxury Golf Resorts (THAGACAH), Resort Convention Hotels (THAGALAC)

Keywords

• Golf club memberships
• Country club hospitality
• Wedding venue services
• Leisure hotel breaks
• Spa and fitness club

Headquarters

HQ city

Crawley

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Golf Operations: Revenue from green fees (9-hole and 18-hole), golf membership subscriptions, golf lessons, pro shop sales, golf studio simulator bookings, and buggy hire. Golf memberships include Adult (£94/month), Corporate (£86/month), Intermediate (£39/month), and Junior (£20/month) tiers.
2. Hotel Accommodation: 26 en-suite hotel rooms with rural-chic styling and golf course views, plus 7 two-bedroom self-catering lodges. Revenue from overnight stays, golf breaks (from £160 per person DBB), and spa breaks.
3. Health & Beauty Services: Full-service beauty salon with ELEMIS treatments, massage, nails, waxing, laser hair removal, and Illumifacial. Spa days from £80, spa breaks from £175 per person. Revenue from treatments and retail products.
4. Events & Weddings: Wedding venue hosting up to 200 guests with three function rooms (Challis Suite, Buchan Suite, Barn Room). Corporate events, conferences, and Christmas party nights (from £61pp).
5. Food & Beverage: Phoenix Bar & Restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, Sunday roasts, afternoon tea. Revenue from daily cover sales, private events, and function room catering.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels8 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Family-owned country club and resort on 150 acres in West Sussex, UK, offering 27 holes of championship golf (Phoenix 9-hole and Griffin 18-hole), a 26-bedroom hotel with seven self-catering lodges, a health club with swimming pool, spa, and gym, a beauty salon, the Phoenix Bar & Restaurant, and wedding/event venues for up to 200 guests. Memberships capped at 2,000 with an active waiting list.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Phoenix Bar & Restaurant: The oak-beamed bar and restaurant with panoramic views over the Griffin course, serving gastro classics using fresh ingredients.
• The Griffin Course
• The Phoenix Course
• Cottesmore Golf Academy
• The Golf Studio
• Challis Suite
• Buchan Suite
• Barn Room

Products and services

• Golf Memberships

Quantifiable outcome

• 600 members signed up within first year of opening in 1975
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Carbon Neutral BritaincoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Carbon Neutral Britain conducted emissions assessment and provides ongoing carbon neutral accreditation. Cottesmore tracks energy use monthly and monitors water use, laundry, single-use plastics, food waste, and recycling under this partnership. This accreditation is a core component of their sustainability positioning.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves15 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Champneys: UK health spa resort chain offering destination spa breaks, beauty treatments, fitness and wellness stays. Comparable to Cottesmore's spa/health club/beauty salon pillar and target spa-break customer.
• Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel & Country Club: Brand-affiliated UK golf resort with 18-hole course, spa, health club and event facilities. Similar guest experience to Cottesmore, but operating under a global hotel flag with broader distribution reach.
• Pennyhill Park Hotel & Spa: Surrey country house hotel with extensive spa, multiple restaurants and large corporate/wedding event business. Comparable to Cottesmore's hotel + spa + events pillar, though not golf-led.
• Q Hotels (Britannia Hotels portfolio): Collection of UK country house hotels with golf courses, spas, leisure clubs and extensive meeting/event facilities. Comparable multi-property UK leisure-resort positioning, with broader geographic and scale footprint.

Direct peers

• Foxhills Club & Resort: Surrey-based multi-facility country club with 18-hole and 9-hole golf courses, hotel rooms, spa, health club, F&B and event venues. The closest direct comparable to Cottesmore's bundled golf/hotel/spa/events model in the South East of England.
• The Grove: Hertfordshire hotel and golf resort with championship course, spa, multiple F&B outlets and large event/wedding capacity. Comparable premium UK country estate model combining golf, accommodation and events.
• The Wisley: Private golf club in Surrey with championship course, clubhouse dining, event hosting and member-guest play. Comparable to Cottesmore's golf-anchored country club offering and South East catchment area.
• Celtic Manor Resort: Welsh resort with three championship golf courses, multiple hotels, spa, restaurants and large conference/wedding capacity. Directly comparable bundled golf-leisure-resort proposition serving both members and break visitors.
• The Belfry Hotel & Resort: Iconic UK golf resort in Warwickshire with multiple golf courses, 300+ bedrooms, spa, leisure club and large conference/events facilities. Comparable multi-vertical UK golf-leisure resort model, though at significantly larger scale than Cottesmore.

Emerging players

• Center Parcs UK: UK short-break forest resort with lodges, restaurants, leisure facilities (including spa and sports) and family activities. Comparable family leisure-break proposition with self-catering lodges, though not golf-anchored.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/cottesmorecountryclub
• Xx.com/cottesmoregcc
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cottesmore Golf & Country Club