Maypole Group, the countryside hotel and restaurant operator set up in 2003, has signed a deal with Punch Taverns to move into its seventh site; the Pear Tree Inn in Melksham, Wiltshire.

Taking the 15-year leasehold on the Pear Tree Inn will cost Maypole £305,000, comprising £70,000 for fixtures and fittings and a £235,000 premium.

The site is a 16th century building set in four acres of grounds in the village of Whitley near Melksham, and is close to several tourist attractions in the West Country.

The restaurant in the site has space for 80 covers while the bar can seat 30, with room for 100 outside.

Maypole chairman Simon Bentley said: “The addition of The Pear Tree to our existing stable of restaurants and hotels brings us up to 7 properties and is further evidence of the company's ambition and development plans.”

Neil Griffiths, group property and development director of Punch Taverns said he was confident that the deal would further develop the site’s potential.

• The West Tower country house hotel and the Swan conference and banqueting centre in Aughton, Lancashire, have been purchased by Simon Matthews Williams, chairman of Sanguine Hospitality. Williams, the man behind the Cadbury House Hotel and Spa in Bristol, said: “Sanguine are becoming a major provider within the hotel and leisure sector and will be announcing further acquisitions in the south of England later this year.” The two purchases take Sanguine’s estate in the north of England to five sites.

Maypole buys Norwich inn for £300,000 >>

Maypole buys fourth countryside hotel for £1.95m >>

Sanguine Hospitality launched with purchase of Hoole Hall hotel >>

By Christopher Walton

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