International real estate advisors Savills has brought to the market a substantial hotel, golf and leisure property and business at Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire for a guide price of £3.5 million.
The Wiltshire Hotel, Golf & Country Club, originally designed by renowned championship golfers Clive Clark and Peter Alliss, totals approximately 200 acres (81 hectares). The 58 bedroom hotel – of three star AA specification – and health & fitness club sit adjacent to the golf clubhouse, function suite and the original 18-hole golf course, which has been expanded to championship length with a new 9-hole, par 71 layout.
Kay Griffiths, associate in Savills leisure team, comments: “Occupying a prime elevated position to the south of Royal Wootton Bassett, The Wiltshire Hotel, Golf & Country Club offers what is already a thriving business with huge potential. The nearby M4 corridor provides access to a substantial population catchment along its route, including Cardiff, Bristol, Reading and London in addition to the immediate catchment of nearby towns Bath, Swindon, Cirencester, Malmesbury and Marlborough.”
Owner of The Wiltshire, Eddy Shah, adds: “My wife Jennifer and I have taken the facility as far as we can. It’s time for someone new to take the club on to the next level. The main growth area for the business is definitely the hotel, which is not our area of expertise, but with the right experience there are tremendous opportunities in this area.”
Adjoining the country club is a holiday home development, excluded from the sale, which has been developed by the country club owners and will continue to operate. There are currently 49 holiday homes with a further 25 under development. The holiday home owners pay an annual ground rent, which includes two full golf and leisure memberships.
Mr Shah is best known as the man who brought new technology and colour to newspapers. At one stage he owned two national and 60 local newspapers and caused waves in the newspaper industry when he took on the unions and created Britain’s first colour newspaper, Today.
After selling his newspapers 20 years ago, he got into the golf course business. He was a shareholder and director of Wentworth Golf Club before moving to Wiltshire from East Anglia where he and his wife owned The Suffolk, The Norfolk and the Essex golf courses.
For further information contact Ian Simpson, Savills Oxford Tel: +44 (0) 1865 269022
Wiltshire Hotel, Golf & Country Club www.the-wiltshire.co.uk