Cotswolds sees shortage of pubs on offer, say property agents

05-Sep-2013 - Last updated on 24-Jun-2024 at 09:52 GMT

Pubs for sale: the Cotwolds is seeing a shortage

Licensees looking for pubs in the Cotswolds may be disappointed after one property agent has warned of a shortage of available sites.

Peter Brunt, hotels director at Colliers International, said that for the first time he has little left on his books.

“I have offers on the table for just about every hotel and pub we have on our books in the area. For the first time in years I have almost nothing to sell,” Brunt said.

“People who thought they could wait for bargains are missing out as properties are being snapped up under their noses.”

He added: “The Cotswolds proved very resilient through the downturn and we continued to sell properties despite the prevailing doom and gloom. Now we have emerged from the downturn the number of premises remaining on our books has shrunk to almost nothing.

“My message to owners is that if they are thinking of moving on this is no longer the buyers’ market that they might fear and that prices are firming.”

'Desirable area'

However, Nicholas Calfe, director at Christie+Co, said this has been the case for the past few years. “It’s a very desirable area and one that we do well in,” he said.

“Anything that comes up tends to buck the trend slightly (in terms of price) because it’s generally an affluent area which has pretty good trade all year.

“I think people feel there’s no need to sell and if they want to sell they are not going to get a decent price until the housing market picks up. They might as well wait two years or so.”

Chris Irving of Fleurets agreed with Calfe. “The number of opportunities to purchase hotels or pubs in the Cotswolds is always relatively low,” he told the Publican’s Morning Advertiser. “Many of the better operators do not wish to sell, because they are trading well, and the realisable figures are not what they were at the peak of the market.”