St James’s Hotel Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Somerston Group, has acquired The Legacy Falcon Hotel in Stratford-upon-Avon from the Administrators of Noblelarge Limited, Grant Thornton.
The four star hotel, with a frontage dating back to the late 15th century, is situated in Chapel Street close to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. It provides 83 bedrooms, seven meeting rooms (one for up to 200 people), two restaurants, two bars and parking for 120 cars.
St James’s intends to invest up to £6 million to completely refurbish the hotel, including the installation of air conditioning in all bedrooms, during the course of next year.
The hotel was previously managed by Legacy Hotels. It will now be managed by St James’s Hotels, which intends to retain all the current management and staff with the expectation of increasing staff numbers on completion of the refurbishment.
Returning to its former glory
Shaun Robinson, managing director of St James’s, commented: “We are very pleased to have been able to acquire The Falcon which is a part of Stratford’s heritage. It has suffered from a lack of capital investment over the past few years but, with a combination of some significant refurbishment, rebranding and committed management, we are confident of returning it to its former glory while providing up to date accommodation for our guests”.
St James’s was established by the Somerston Group earlier this year and acquired the Forestdale portfolio of fourteen unbranded, three star hotels in strongly performing locations across England, in March. It is currently investing in the extensive refurbishment of a number of the hoteIs in the portfolio and is in the process of selling a number of non-core hotels for alternative uses, particularly healthcare related.
St James’s has also recently acquired the 119 bed, Hilton Hotel in Portsmouth, in which it will be investing £4 million to convert it into a 150 bed ‘limited service’ hotel which will, on completion, operate under the Holiday Inn express brand.
Somerston Group is a privately owned group founded in 1854. In Europe, Somerston’s activities are mainly focused on investment in the hotel and medical property sectors. The Group has a history of investing in asset-backed operational businesses. Unlike many in the private capital sector, Somerston has a medium to long term outlook when investing its capital.
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