![\"Hugo's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WI2HSB0S7M87MS7SSWAH.jpg\")
Hugo’s at The Board Room is now open. It is the biggest venue at Folkestone Harbour Arm. Picture: Folkestone Harbour Arm<\/p>\nA couple who packed up their life in London after falling in love with the county have launched their second business in the town they now call home.<\/p>\n
Rob Porter and Emily Davies have taken over the The Board Room at Folkestone Harbour Arm \u2013 the largest venue at the popular tourist spot \u2013 two years after moving to the town from the capital.<\/p>\n
Hugo’s at The Board Room is now open. It is the biggest venue at Folkestone Harbour Arm. Picture: Folkestone Harbour Arm<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve given it a new name, renovated inside and refreshed the food and drinks menu, and are now buzzing to welcome customers.<\/p>\n
They both have experience in hospitality \u2013 Mr Porter, 36, previously ran pubs for brewer Shepherd Neame in London, while Miss Davies, 33, managed venue the Old Bank of England in Fleet Street.<\/p>\n
The couple first visited Folkestone in summer 2023 and, after just one more visit shortly afterwards, made the bold decision to leave the capital and relocate.<\/p>\n
After two years commuting, it was in April this year that the pair founded Hatch Rotisserie Chicken at Folkestone Harbour Arm\u2019s busy The Goods Yard, home to several food and drink vendors and an outdoor cinema.<\/p>\n
![\"Rob](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/LLUJ6FX4BET3SM19OUMT.jpg\")
Rob Porter and Emily Davies moved to Folkestone after falling in love with the town. Picture: Folkestone Harbour Arm<\/p>\n
Now, they have also taken on The Board Room, a scenic social gaming venue which originally launched in May 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n It is home to a beer cafe, three 18ft Canadian maple shuffleboard and four Flyby digital dartboards.<\/p>\n Miss Davies said: \u201cWe were living in London, with our two dogs, and came down to Folkestone for a visit.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d heard about it and thought we\u2019d come and see what it was all about. After two visits, we decided to move down here.<\/p>\n \u201cWe loved that a lot of Folkestone was full of quirky independents – everyone here is full of passion and is bringing their own touch.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Goods Yard felt like Box Park in Shoreditch, but next to the sea and a big screen, and it didn’t feel like a classic seaside town.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone we spoke to was keen to recommend a new little gem to try.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re big foodies, so The Goods Yard drew us in as an incredible place with so many choices of food.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery visit you can find something new to do – you never get bored of it.\u201d<\/p>\n The couple,<\/a> who have a son called Hugo, previously told<\/a> the Folkestone Dispatch how much they “liked the vibe” of the town.<\/p>\n Their new venture has been renamed Hugo\u2019s at The Board Room and has been revamped with an Art Deco and mid-century modern aesthetics design.<\/p>\n The couple have also expanded its food and drink offering for diners and players, with a new gastro-gaming menu comprising Korean BBQ pork belly bites, jackfruit bao buns, gyoza and breaded wings.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the site\u2019s new drinks menu features a range of wines, ciders, lagers and craft beers from local Folkestone brewery Dockers, including the aptly-named Hugo Spritz.<\/p>\n Twenty staff are currently employed across both Hugo\u2019s and Hatch Rotisserie Chicken, although this could increase to 30 soon.<\/p>\n As well as food and drink, Folkestone Harbour Arm, run by Folkestone Harbour & Seafront Development Company, is home to mini golf, a seaside sauna and a market.<\/p>\n General manager of the Arm, Paulo Kingston-Correia, said: \u201cThanks to the introduction of Hugo\u2019s and the refurbishment works we have carried out, The Board Room is now so much more than a competitive socialising space.<\/p>\n \u201cIt offers a wide-ranging bar, game-play friendly food, social sharing boards, and a full dining menu.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Board Room is our largest venue on site, boasts some spectacular views, and we are really looking forward to working with Emily and Rob to realise the amazing potential of this one-of-a-kind venue for Folkestone Harbour Arm and our visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A couple who packed up their life in London after falling in love with the county have launched…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[26],"tags":[633,9129,1088,529,309,27,1118],"class_list":["post-67515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-london","tag-business","tag-consumer","tag-folkestone","tag-human-interest","tag-kent","tag-london","tag-syndicate"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116788655950903436","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Hugo's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TK18DYLGRGSFOSOQK1Q2.jpg\")
Hugo’s at The Board Room has capacity for 150 people. Picture: Folkestone Harbour Arm<\/p>\n![\"Hugo's](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/WIS6GG28C666GM3F63XA.jpg\")
Hugo’s at The Board Room has been revamped with a new ‘gastro-gaming’ menu. Picture: Folkestone Harbour Arm<\/p>\n![\"General](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/RF0LU8W3RNLTIX64FRW0.jpg\")
General manager of Folkestone Harbour & Seafront Development Company, Paulo Kingston-Correia. Picture: Folkestone Harbour Arm<\/p>\n