Barker & Stonehouse, the UK’s largest independent, family-run furniture retailer, has acquired two sites in Hove and Guildford as it looks to expand its representation south of the Thames.
At Old Shoreham Road, Hove, Barker & Stonehouse has acquired a former Currys unit. Comprising 20,000 sq ft of ground floor sales with planning secured for a 15,715 sq ft trading mezzanine, the property will be refurbished and totally reclad with extensive glazing. It is due to open prior to Easter 2017.
Barker & Stonehouse has secured an assignment of the Currys lease and then has extended its lease to create a 15 year term with the landlords, who are a property fund managed by CBRE Global Investors. The new rent is £520,052 pa.
Advised by its retained property agent Edgerley Simpson Howe (ESH), the retailer has purchased a 1.4 acre site at Ladymead, Guildford, on a long leasehold basis from Surrey County Council. This site is at the gateway to Guildford, being at the junction to the A3 and Ladymead.
Planning has been secured for a 24,000 sq ft ground floor unit with 16,000 sq ft trading space on first floor level. This new store will be highly designed and strikingly modern with extensive glazing and a “living green” wall.
Barker & Stonehouse has currently eight stores across the north of England, a showroom in London’s Battersea and two outlets in York and Middlesbrough.
ESH is retained by Barker & Stonehouse on these and future acquisitions. Vail Williams advised Surrey County Council.
