Timothy Taylor restaurant put up for sale
Harrogate Brasserie, the restaurant owned by regional pub operator Timothy Taylor Brewery, has been brought to the market by specialist business property adviser, Christie and Co.
The restaurant is situated in the centre of the spa town of Harrogate in North Yorkshire and occupies a stone built, three story building. The property also has 14 letting rooms and apartments. It is situated on Cheltenham Parade and surrounded by a number of pubs, restaurants and hotels. The operators claim the site benefits from significant footfall and is well known for its Early Bird menu, serving Timothy Taylor’s cask ales and hosting live music evenings. In addition to the main Harrogate Brasserie building, there is a townhouse terraced property, currently utilised by hotel guests, which is also included in the sale.
Founded in 1858 by Timothy Taylor’s, the family-owned brewery opened its first brewery in Keighley, West Yorkshire, relocating to Knowle Spring in 1863. Timothy Taylor’s purchased the Harrogate Brasserie site from Richard Finney to develop the site as a flagship outlet in Harrogate. Following two years of ownership, the operator has decided to sell the Harrogate Brasserie, without the planned developments going ahead, in order to focus their capital expenditure on their brewery and significant investment in it. The brewery operates 19 sites across Yorkshire.
Tim Dewey, chief executive of Timothy Taylor’s said: “While many breweries have evolved over time to place more focus on their pub estate, our main efforts have always been on brewing. Since acquiring the Harrogate Brasserie, we have come to realise our limitations in this area, given our size and expertise. As a result, our hope is to sell the Harrogate Brasserie to a leisure specialist that can do this fantastic outlet justice.
“In the meantime, we look forward to continuing to offer our beers to our strong Harrogate following through the many existing outlets that stock our beer in the town.”
David Lee, regional director – north east at Christie and Co added: “We are delighted to be working with Timothy Taylor Ltd to help sell the Harrogate Brasserie. Harrogate is well renowned as one of the hot spots of Yorkshire, recently voted as the best place to live in the UK by The Independent Newspaper, and freehold properties in the centre of Harrogate rarely become available, so we expect significant interest.
“We anticipate interest levels will be further increased due to the fact the Harrogate Brasserie is a fine building with the benefit of a license and is a well-established hospitality business in Harrogate town centre.”
The Harrogate Brasserie has been brought to the market at an asking price of OIEO £1.35m for the freehold interest of the main building and OIEO £1.675m for the freehold interest of the main building plus the house, on a share sale basis.