The Exeter Office of leading specialist business agents, Christie + Co, reports a number of recent hotel sales, which follow on from strong activity in the sector during 2011.
Christie + Co reports that, whilst the traditional lifestyle market in the South West remains quite challenging, buyers are continuing to buy hotels, especially where growth opportunities exist and the seller’s approach reflects market sentiment.
Sales so far during 2012 have included Lewtrenchard Manor at Lewdown, between Okehampton and Launceston. This was the third of the former von Essen Hotels to be sold by Christie + Co’s Exeter Office, having sold Fowey Hall in Cornwall and the Mount, just outside Taunton in Somerset, last year. The Murray family who sold Lewtrenchard Manor to von Essen Hotels nearly a decade ago are now back at the helm.
Other transactions so far this year have included:
– Old School House – a holiday cottage complex on the north Cornish coast near Bude.
– Castle Hotel in Porlock, west Somerset – sold to Millers Collection, which also operates hotels at Porlock Weir and Lynmouth as well as elsewhere in the country.
– The White Hart Hotel in Moretonhampstead, which was sold out of administration to a local buyer.
– Holland Inn – a bar/restaurant with 30 letting rooms on the A388 between Saltash and St Mellion. The business had closed earlier in the year and was sold to a local buyer.
Simon Harvey, Director at Christie + Co’s Exeter Office who handled all these sales, comments: “Having experienced a significant improvement in the number of hotels sold last year, we are delighted that activity has remained robust during the first quarter of this year. With Spring now upon us and a healthy pipeline of other deals still to be concluded, we anticipate that the rest of the year will continue in the same vein.”
