What Happened to The Black Bear Hotel After The Hotel Inspector?
The Hotel Inspector, Season 12 Wareham, South West England
Current status
As of October 2026, The Black Bear Hotel has closed per the business's own notice (May 9, 2026), reviewed by our team on October 19, 2026 and cross-checked against assets.savills.com; not yet independently confirmed through direct contact with the business.
What the source shows: CAMRA WhatPub (updated 2026-05-09) lists the Bear Hotel, 14 South Street, Wareham with the former name Black Bear Hotel, and a Savills brochure for The Bear says the current owners acquired the property in 2018, two years after the Maytum family's 2016 episode. How we decide a status →
- Episode Season 12, Episode 4
- Aired
- Address 14 South Street, Wareham BH20 4LT
- Now called The Bear Hotel
- Website blackbear.website
- Show map
© OpenStreetMap contributors © CARTO
What happened after The Hotel Inspector?
The Hotel Inspector (Channel 5) featured the Black Bear Hotel in Wareham, Dorset, in the episode “The Black Bear Hotel,” which aired 2016-06-22. Wikipedia's list of episodes describes a coaching inn run by first-time hotelier Lynda Maytum and her family. Wikipedia's article on Wareham, read on 2026-10-19, does not mention the inn.
A listing on CAMRA's WhatPub, last updated 9 May 2026, gives the Bear Hotel at 14 South Street, Wareham BH20 4LT, with the former name Black Bear Hotel, and describes an 18th-century coaching inn with eleven en-suite bedrooms. Dorset Council's heritage record describes the Black Bear Hotel on South Street as a mid-18th-century hotel with statues of a bear on its porch. A Savills sales brochure for The Bear, carrying the reference 04.02.25, said the current owners acquired the property in 2018 and did not name them. The Food Standards Agency lists a food hygiene rating of 5 for The Bear Hotel dated 16 July 2026.
The episode
Synopsis (tvmaze.com) : Reality series in which hotelier Alex Polizzi tries to turn around failing hotels and guest houses. After filling a coaching inn full of surprise guests, Alex has to close the place down to show its owners how to get back on track.
Also in Season 12
Season 12: 1 of 7 still open · 2 renamed, moved or under new owners
- Renamed
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Ep 2Harrogate Motel
Closed - Closed
- Renamed
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Ep 7Atlantic House
Open - Closed
Nearest places still open
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The Hotel Inspector
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The Hotel Inspector
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The Hotel Inspector
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The Hotel Inspector
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The Hotel Inspector
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The Hotel Inspector
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Before you go: Businesses change fast. Always confirm directly with the hotel — call ahead, or check its own current website or social media — before making plans around anything on this page.
Sources we checked
- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Hotel_Inspector_episodes
- Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wareham,_Dorset
- camra.org.uk https://camra.org.uk/pubs/bear-hotel-wareham-149450
- assets.savills.com https://assets.savills.com/properties/A123EBFF-DF8C-4C4A-B175-1153C71CE884/Bear_Brochure.pdf
We work hard to keep every status accurate and dated, but restaurants change fast and our sources aren't perfect. If something here is wrong — a status, a name, an address, anything — tell us what you're seeing and where you saw it, and we'll check it.
Record thi-075 · checked by Cal Marchetti.