Village inn and golf club on the market for £4 million

A HISTORIC New Forest golf club and village inn have been put up for sale with a £4m price tag.

The Grade 2 listed Bell Inn at Brook has been owned by the Crosthwaite-Eyre family for more than 250 years and has won a number of accolades including an AA four-star rating. It has 28 bedrooms and can cater for 100 seated covers.

The adjoining Bramshaw Golf Club features the Forest course which was built around 1865 and is the oldest in Hampshire, and the Manor course which opened in 1972.

The complex had been put on the market in 2018 for £4.5m by Robert Crosthwaite-Eyre, the brother of national park authority chairman Oliver, a former official verderer, but failed to sell.

It is now being marketed by Savills, and the head of its licensed leisure team, Kevin Marsh, said: “The Bell Inn and Bramshaw Golf Club has proven to be a highly successful business that benefits from mixed revenue streams including annual golf subscription income, daily green fee income, hotel room revenue, food and beverage and functions/event revenue.

“The various elements to the business present genuine opportunity for growth and as assets of this type rarely come to the market we expect there to be significant interest in the property.”

Asked about the challenge of marketing the property in the current economic climate with social distancing measures likely to stay in place for some time, Chris Bickle, director in the licensed leisure teams at Savills, was positive.

He said: “Despite being sold as one and benefitting from each other’s presence, the country inn and golf course present different type of opportunities.

“The government’s decision to reopen golf courses on 13th May raised the profile of golfing resulting in a release of pent-up demand from the golfing community and others looking for leisure activities during lockdown.

“This will likely create additional goodwill in the sector which will continue in the future. Never have destination locations with ample outside space been so aligned to changing customer demand.”

Mr Bickle added: “The Bell Inn is also a highly desirable asset in its own right and presents well to corporate and independent operators. This is a traditional country inn located in a quaint village yet easily accessible by road and less than two hours’ drive from London.

“The potential for diverse revenue streams are very attractive in the prevailing market conditions.”