George Hotel at Piercebridge acquired by expanding hotel group

This 32 bedroom village hotel is situated on the banks of the River Tees, between Darlington and Richmond in County Durham, and not far from Scotch Corner on the A1. The extensive property, which has two further detached buildings providing additional letting accommodation, was bought by property and hotel group Shepherd Cox following a high level of interest and multiple offers.

The hotel, which dates back to the 16^th century and is believed to have once hosted Dick Turpin, has been transformed over the years from its humble beginnings as a coaching inn to a now popular wedding venue. It retains many of its original period features and upgrades are planned by the new owners to extend its offering.

The main building comprises a lounge/bar, a large ballroom, a restaurant, and eight double en suite rooms. The additional two buildings consist of 18 en suite bedrooms, a mixture of doubles and twins, and a further five double en suite bedrooms and a double en suite room/family suite. The hotel also has on-site staff accommodation which consists of a living room and two bedrooms. It has extensive gardens and decked terraces overlooking the river at the rear.

Mark Worley, Director at Christie & Co’s Newcastle office handled the sale and comments, “The vendor is a regional multi-site licensed pub and hotel operator who wanted to sell The George as it no longer fits into their business model. In turn, the buyer is an expanding hotel group which has purchased several hotels across the North East and Yorkshire through Christie & Co in the past 18 months including Allerton Court in Northallerton, The White Rose at Leeming Bar and The Grand Hotel in Hartlepool.”

Nick Carlile from Shepherd Cox says, “The George adds to our expanding hotel portfolio and we have exciting plans for its ongoing improvement and expansion. Our investors are very happy with the acquisition which takes the group’s portfolio to twelve hotels.”

Mark adds, “The fact that these deals were all done on a very confidential basis with very little open marketing of any kind demonstrates the increasing interest in the North East hotel market. This should also be of interest to hotel owners who would consider a sale but are wary of the effect that the process of finding a buyer may have on their business.”