Hand Picked Hotels adds three hotels to porfolio

Hand Picked Hotels, the collection of country house hotels, has snapped up three new properties for an estimated £25m - £30m.

The group, which already has 14 hotels with turnover of about £50m, has bought New Hall in Sutton Coldfield; Hendon Hall, in North London; and Audleys Wood Hotel, in Basingstoke.

The three hotels, all of which are listed, were owned by Bridgehouse Hotels Group, a private company controlled by property entrepreneur Andy Ruhan.

Julia Hands, who created Hand Picked Hotels in 2001 from a collection of hotels purchased with her husband, city financier Guy Hands, said: “Our aim is to have 20 hotels by 2012 in strategic positions across the UK and these three hotels are a great fit for our existing portfolio.

“They are trading well and have some beautiful features.  They will add 189 bedrooms to the existing 760 bedrooms in the group. The three properties, like all our hotels, are former private country houses with interesting histories.”

More than £70m has been invested so far in restoring and developing the existing 14 Hand Picked Hotels.

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By Daniel Thomas

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