The Bridge Hotel and Spa, an AA 4-star, 37-bed country hotel in Wetherby, Yorkshire has been snapped up by Shepherd Cox, an expanding UK hotel and hospitality group that already includes 19 hotels across the UK.
The group includes a mix of independent hotels and properties operating under brands such as Best Western, Holiday Inn and Comfort Inns.
The Bridge Hotel is in a rural location with easy access to the A1, as well as local towns and amenities. Facilities include The Courtyard Restaurant and Byron Bar, as well as excellent conference facilities including Ribston Suite, The Walshford Suite, and The Byron Room, which have capacity for 200, 175 and 70 people respectively.
Leisure facilities include the Courtyard Spa with a luxury thermal suite and treatment/massage rooms.
The hotel also benefits from planning consent for two hotel bedroom extensions, providing a total of 28 additional letting bedrooms.
The business has a net turnover approaching £3m per annum; the sale of the entire share capital of the owning company completed at an undisclosed figure. The management team will remain in place.
“We are delighted to add this very prestigious asset to our hotel portfolio,” said Nick Carlile, Director of Shepherd Cox. “We plan to continue the great work that [former operator] Philip and his team have done, and expand the hotel with the new rooms. This acquisition represents a key step in the growth for Shepherd Cox Hotels.”
The transaction was brokered by Julian Troup, Head of UK Hotels Agency at Colliers International, who said, “This is an enviable business with a high-quality offering and was transacted on a highly confidential basis. Colliers and its clients were delighted with the result of the process, including maintaining the required confidentiality”
Troup added that the sale was indicative of a wider trend of increased demand for quality provincial hotel opportunities from a diverse range of potential buyers, ranging from international investors attracted by weaker sterling and improving trading prospects, private buyers seeking the benefits of a lifestyle opportunity and corporate investors focused on favourable returns and real estate alternatives.
