La Fleur de Lys Hotel & Restaurant is for sale for £1,445,000
A grade-II listed hotel and fine dining restaurant near Shaftesbury is being marketed by commercial real estate specialists Colliers.
Situated in the ancient hilltop town La Fleur de Lys Hotel & Restaurant on Bleke Street, trades as an up-market restaurant and lounge bar with eight double guest bedrooms. Formerly a boarding school for girls, the hotel is family run and has built up an enviable reputation for fine cuisine using some of the best quality and fresh ingredients found locally.
The restaurant is a small intimate 46-cover restaurant and is the only one with two AA rosettes in Shaftesbury. The establishment has also achieved much fame with articles in the Times, Telegraph & Guardian Newspapers, Good Food Guide and Michelin recognition as well as being voted one of the Sunday Times top 200 Best Restaurants in England.
The current owner David Griffin-Shepherd and his wife opened La Fleur De Lys restaurant in the town in May 1991 and in August 2003, acquired what was the Sunridge House B&B making extensive refurbishments to create the new and improved La Fleur De Lys Hotel & Restaurant. The owners have maintained the property to the highest standard and have now decided to place the property on the market in order to retire.
David commented: “After 31 wonderful years trading in Shaftesbury, we have decided to market the property to spend more time with our grandchildren. We’ve been lucky to have operated a successful business in such a gorgeous part of the world, but now feel that the time is right to slow down.”
The hotel brings in many tourists to the area as it is located on the site of the former Shaftesbury Abbey, which was founded in 888 by King Alfred and soon became one of the richest religious establishments in the country. Adjacent to the abbey site is Gold Hill, a steep cobbled street used in the 1970s as the setting for Ridley Scott's television advertisement for Hovis bread.
Ed Jefferson from Colliers’ Hotels Agency team said: “La Fleur de Lys Hotel & Restaurant is in a beautiful location in a prime Dorset town, benefitting from multiple areas of profit potential, such as a generous size restaurant, bar and lounge, eight letting bedrooms and a courtyard that can be used for events. We are hoping to find an investor who wishes to further develop the business and love the hotel as much as David, Mary and Marc have over the last three decades.”
