The closed Fleece Hotel in Richmond, North Yorkshire has been sold by The Fleece Holdings Limited to a local investor.
The 13-bedroom town centre hotel was closed at the end of summer 2023 due to the owners’ desire to divest of the property and concentrate on other business interests. It was placed on the market by Colliers for offers in excess of £1 million, excluding two residential units within the property, however these have now been included in the sale.
In recent years the 135-year-old hotel has been fully refurbished to create 13 unique bedrooms, residential apartments and 100-cover ground floor bar and restaurant. Grade II listed, the property boasts a striking gothic-styled façade of brick and stone, with a number of original features including turrets, arrow slits and parapets.
It was sold with planning consent for eight additional bedrooms or conversion of the upper floors to residential use, and the new owners plan to re-open the hotel and restaurant in the next few months.
Chris Miles from The Fleece Holdings said: “We’ve been happy custodians of The Fleece Hotel and have enjoyed maintaining its unique look, while bringing it up to modern standards of hospitality.
“However now is the time for us to move on with our other business interests and we’re pleased to be passing the hotel on to a local investor who is able to give the business the attention it deserves and provide quality services to guests once again.”
Robert Smithson, associate director in Hotels Agency at Colliers handled the sale. He said: “We’re pleased to have managed the sale of another outstanding Yorkshire hotel asset. The former owners of The Fleece created an excellent venue and invested heavily in its refurbishment and planning.
“However, as hotel operations was not their business focus it is fantastic to see the property being passed on to a local investor and operator who is looking to forward and getting the Fleece back up and running.
“This is Colliers 30th UK hotel transaction this year, which is a 38% improvement on last year, highlighting that buyer confidence is returning on the back of improving economic indicators.”
