David Gelhaar has been appointed General Manager at The Newt in Somerset

The Newt in Somerset has appointed David Gelhaar as Hotel General Manager. Gelhaar joins the working 'farm with rooms' from his role as Director of Front of House at Chiltern Firehouse, which closed after a fire raged through the Victorian building on Valentine's Day this year.

His focus over the last few months has been to find new opportunities for many of the Marylebone venue's 360-strong staff, before circumstances and stars aligned to secure his own at The Newt.

Starting his hospitality career in his home city of Stockholm, Gelhaar attended culinary school, before quickly realizing that he's more suited to front of house. He completed traineeships in some of the Swedish capital's best hotels prior to making the move to London. It was here that he landed a role at Chiltern Firehouse the first time around, worked his way up at Blake's in South Kensington, and returned to the Chiltern Street team on reopening after the pandemic.