This year marks the 40th anniversary of Firmdale Hotels, the empire built by Tim and Kit Kemp that has redefined boutique hospitality. Their story began through Leszek Nowicki, a Polish architect who Kit worked for, “making the tea and carrying around a tape measure” while Tim, then a property renovator, was a client. A couple of years later, Tim and Kit found themselves seated together at Nowicki’s wedding and began to date. “Tim invited me to have a look at a property he was renovating for himself,” Kit recalls. “He told the builder, ‘I think I’ll need a cat flap.’ And the builder said, ‘but you haven’t got a cat.’ And I thought, I have a cat — maybe he is quite serious about me.”
