Scottish hotels: Royal Deeside, Banchory: Douglas Arms put up for sale
UK property firm Graham + Sibbald said it had been instructed by Michael JM Reid of Meston Reid & Co, as liquidator of SJ Inns Ltd, to market for sale the Douglas Arms Hotel on High Street in Bankhory.
The property agent described it as “a wonderful opportunity to acquire and re-establish this once busy hostelry in a very popular locality”.
It added: “Following on from the problematic and difficult trading conditions, for two years, during the Covid pandemic, the significant increase in energy costs, pre-Christmas 2022, made the trading business unsustainable, which signaled the decision [to] place the business into a voluntary liquidation process.”
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The Douglas Arms Hotel has eight letting bedrooms with a lounge bar-bistro and café bar. The hotel also has an outdoor balcony/terrace, and the former lounge bar/restaurant.
A four-room private flat is included in the sale.
Graham + Sibbald declared the new owners of the Douglas Arms Hotel “have the opportunity to re-establish the hotel as a good owner-driven, local, hotel business”.
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It added: “The Douglas Arms Hotel has a prominent main street location on Banchory’s High Street. The hotel can attract many passers-by on the main A93 Aberdeen to Balmoral and Braemar Road, and it has enjoyed the patronage of locals, visiting fishermen, tourists and golfers, as well as a range of commercial custom.”
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Alistair Letham, a hotel and leisure consultant with Graham + Sibbald, said: “The increase of the energy costs was the final-straw before deciding on the voluntary liquidation but this offers new owners a fantastic opportunity to develop and re-establish the Douglas Arms Hotel as a thriving business, of appeal to locals and visitors, alike. The inclusion of a four-room private flat is ideal for resident owners. Royal Deeside has perennially been a popular destination; maybe even more so now. The Douglas Arms Hotel with its prominent High Street position is well placed to reap the benefits of both its town center and main Deeside Road location.”