Maureen and David Small started out running a 14-bedroom hotel in Whitley Bay, Northumberland, before buying the Unicorn hotel in Ripon, North Yorkshire, in 1983.
Under Maureen and David's control, the Unicorn has always been a family business. Their son, John, has been the manager from the start and their daughter, Helen, also works there. Despite being 73, Maureen still does four shifts a week at the hotel herself.
Two more of the couple's sons also worked at the Unicorn before deciding to spread their wings. About a year ago, Paul Small and his half-brother David Middleton began looking for their own business, plumping for the 31-bedroom, two-star Pinegrove hotel in Carlisle, Cumbria, which they moved into in February of this year.
"We're a big family and there was a need to expand partly just to incorporate us," says David, adding that the aim at the Pinegrove is to refurbish the bedrooms and expand the function side.
Hospitality is in the family's blood, and David has been involved in the industry "one way or another" since starting out as a kitchen porter at the Grand hotel in Tynemouth, aged 13, later graduating to bar work then becoming assistant manager at the Unicorn.
David says that working with family members is easier on one hand, because you can expect more and get more from your family, but it can be harder to raise issues. "At the end of the day," he explains, "we live and work together, so the last thing you want is an atmosphere."
All in all, David finds that running a hotel beats doing a "regular" job hands-down. "On the whole, it tends to be fun, and things never cease to surprise you," he says. "I wouldn't like to sit in an office doing a nine-to-five job. It's also a very people-orientated job. You have to love people - if you don't, you can't do it."
www.unicorn-hotel.co.uk;
www.pinegrovehotel.co.uk