Three former Shepherd Cox Group hotels to be sold out of administration

Administrators have put three hotels formerly owned and operated by the Shepherd Cox Group on the market.

The sale is understood to leave the group with a portfolio of just seven of its prior 16 hotels.

Harrisons Business Recovery and Insolvency has instructed property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) to sell the New Hobbit Country Inn, Sowerby Bridge near Halifax; Hallgarth the Manor hotel near Durham (pictured); and the Allerton Court hotel in Northallerton.

Offers are invited for the hotels individually or as a group. The 16th-century, 24-bedroom Hallgarth Manor has recently undergone a £2m refurbishment and is on the market for a guide price of £1.75m; the 30-bedroom New Hobbit hotel is seeking offers in excess of £1m; and the 44-bedroom Allerton Court hotel is on the market for £2.9m.

Martin Davis, director of hotels and leisure at LSH, said he anticipated the properties would generate strong interest from a wide range of purchasers.

The properties are the latest Shepherd Cox hotels to fall into administration. Quantuma administrators were appointed to six companies, each owning a separate hotel as part of the Shepherd Cox hotel brand in June.

The hotels, based in Bicester, Darlington, Hartlepool, Manchester, Sedgefield and Chesterfield, employed around 100 staff. On appointment, there were insufficient funds to continue to trade the hotels and the employees at most of the properties were made redundant. The companies were placed into administration following a court application by several investors who had bought individual hotel rooms.

Groups including Signature Living and Northern Powerhouse Developments, which employed similar investment schemes, have seen part or all of their hotel portfolios fall into administration in recent years.