 The hotel has been owned by Moorfield Group (a UK private equity firm) since 2007 and is operated by Accor Hotels under their mid-market Mercure brand.The Hotel was founded in 1254 as the 'Fox and Hounds', and parts of the present buildings date back to the 16th century.The land on which the hotel stands was a detached part of the medieval Manor of Thorncroft (in Leatherhead) and was held in the mid-thirteenth century by Walter de Merton, the founder of Merton College, Oxford University.