Blackwell Grange acquired by Irish group Bruhenny Investments

St James's Hotel Group has sold the leasehold on the 108-bedroom Blackwell Grange hotel in Darlington, County Durham, to Irish-based Bruhenny Investments, off a guide price of £3.25m.

Originally built as the family home of the industrial magnate George Allen, the 18th-century, Grade II-listed property was acquired by Darlington Council in 1953 and transformed into a hotel in 1970.

Today the property, which sits within 4.35 acres of grounds, features a restaurant, 12 function rooms, a swimming pool and gym.

Julian Troup, head of UK hotels agency at Colliers International, which marketed the hotel, said the sale follows a pattern of increasing demand for UK provincial hotels from private and corporate investors.

“We are seeing an emerging trend of increased demand for quality regional hotel opportunities from a diverse buyer set, including international investors, who have been attracted by the weaker sterling and improving trading prospects.”

St James’s Hotel Group, a subsidiary of the Jersey-based real estate company Somerston Group, has been gradually selling off properties it acquired as part of the 14-strong Forestdale portfolio in March 2014. Forestdale was a subsidiary of the Akkeron hotel group, which went into administration in early 2014.

The group now has five remaining hotels: Norfolk Arms hotel, Arundel, West Sussex; Pratt’s hotel, Bath, Somerset; Royal Cambridge hotel, Cambridge; Falcon hotel, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire; and Winchester Royal hotel, Winchester, Hampshire.

Darlington’s Blackwell Grange hotel on market for £3.25m >>

St James’s Hotel Group to sell Arnos Manor in Bristol >>

St James’s Hotels buys Falcon hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon >>
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