A SCOTTISH “restaurant with rooms” has been brought to the market.
Drysdale & Company, a commercial property agency for the hospitality sector, has announced details for the award-winning Victoria Square and The Orangery Restaurant in the shadow of Stirling Castle.
The VisitScotland Five Star Gold-rated business is set in a detached Victorian villa in the Kings Park area of the historic town and has a 32-cover restaurant, ten boutique-style bedrooms, and staff accommodation.
Rated No.1 on TripAdvisor for both accommodation and as a restaurant, the business is offered for sale in "walk-in" condition with no current upgrading required by a new owner, the agent said. There are also private gardens and a car park.
It is available for the freehold asking price of £1.35m.
Features in the property, which has been restored by present owners Phil and Kari Couser, include a residents’ lounge. The main breakfast/dining room can accommodate 20 covers, with an additional 12 covers in the Conservatory/Orangery extension.
Staff accommodation consists of an attic apartment and lower ground floor level room that is presently used by two live-in members of staff. The whole of the lower ground floor level was previously utilised as owners’ accommodation and includes an open-plan kitchen and lounge area.
There is potential to use some or all of the lower ground floor garden rooms as owners’ accommodation if a buyer wished to utilise the property for their own living purposes, the agent said.
The current owners have run the business since 2013, opening initially as a seven-room guest house before expanding to ten rooms in 2016. A restaurant was added in 2019 and the business was rebranded as a restaurant with rooms in 2021.
The current year has been the first full year of trading in this model without interruption following the covid pandemic. The business has "significant potential for growth based on a very strong and still growing reputation as one of the finest places in which to eat and stay in Stirling".
The agent said updated trading information will be provided to serious parties on viewing the property.
Mr Couser said: “Whilst we have no immediate plans to retire, and are open-minded about new career and business opportunities, we decided to put the business on the market now because we always said it was important to sell when you are still on the way up.
“We opened the restaurant side of the business just before the pandemic and this is the first year of running as a restaurant with rooms without interruption.
“The accommodation side of the business is very well established, but there is still a lot of growth potential in the restaurant, building on its excellent and multiple-rated reputation.”
He said: “We are very proud of what we have created here, Victoria Square being our first foray in hospitality. My wife Kari has led in the day-to-day management of the business, before this, she had a career in education. I had a career as an army officer before switching to working in senior management within the NHS, which I continued to do until 2021.
“Highlights for us have definitely been finishing the initial phase of refurbishment and taking satisfaction from returning the grandeur to a beautiful old building. Secondly, unexpectedly being awarded our Five-Star grading from Visit Scotland on our first inspection. Thirdly and more recently, achieving the top spot in the Stirling area both for accommodation and as a restaurant on TripAdvisor.”
Mr Couser added: “We will miss working with a great team of staff and, secondly, interacting with our diverse and international clientele. We wish any new owner well in their endeavours here.”
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