London & Edinburgh Swallow Group adds to portfolio

The rapidly-expanding London & Edinburgh Swallow Group has acquired another property north of the border.

The latest addition to its growing portfolio is the Beancross Hotel, a bar, restaurant, hotel and function room located near Falkirk.

While the sale price remains confidential, the asking price was £3.5m.  

Bought from Finn Inns Ltd, the property has three distinct dining areas, an indoor and outdoor children’s play area, a separate function room with a capacity for up to 375 persons, 14 bedrooms and 130 car parking spaces.

The pub and hotel operator now has more than 70 properties in Scotland from a UK total of 150 following the acquisition of a number of properties this year. 

Earlier in the month, it bought the 28-ensuite bedroom Western Isles hotel in the Isle of Mull and the Cutty Sark bar, restaurant and coffee shop in Inverbervie near Montrose.

These acquisitions followed the purchase of the 62-room Learmouth hotel in Edinburgh in April.

However, the Group has announced plans to sell five Scottish properties that do not fit into its long-term plans. They are the Glenfield Hotel in Ullapool, the Norseman Hotel in Wick, the Queens Hotel in Oban the Arrochar hotel in Loch Long and the Kirkconnel Hall Hotel in Dumfries and Galloway. 

“Although these hotels are very successful and effective in their own markets, they are either duplicating locations where we are already active or will respond quicker and more effectively to independent proprietors or developers,” said the Group’s chief executive chairman Alan Bowes.

By Ross Bentley

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