APEX Hotels has acquired a historic Aberdeenshire property which it declared will become one of the “flagship” venues in its estate.
The Edinburgh-based company has bought the “stunning” Meldrum House Country Hotel and Golf Course as it looks to build its presence in the rural hotel market. The deal follows its acquisition of the Pine Trees hotel near Pitlochry last year.
The four-star Meldrum House, which had been privately owned by Aberdeenshire businessmen Bob Edwards and Terry and David Buchan, is based in a 13th century manor set in 250 acres of countryside. With 51 bedrooms, the hotel has won a string of awards, including best hotel at VisitScotland’s Scottish Thistle Awards.
READ MORE: New York giant JPMorgan Chase opens Glasgow office
Angela Vickers, chief executive of Apex Hotels, said: “The acquisition of Meldrum House Country Hotel represents an opportunity to continue to diversify the Apex Hotels portfolio, giving our guests even more choice of a city or more relaxed rural option.
“This is an exciting time for Apex, and after getting to know the team at Meldrum House it was clear they share the same vision and ambitions we have at Apex Hotels. Meldrum House will be one of our flagship hotels and we are delighted to be the next custodians of this historic property.”
Bob Edwards said: “After 31 years of owning Meldrum House with David and Terry Buchan, it is the perfect time to hand over the reins for a new chapter, where the hotel and estate will become part of Apex Hotel’s expanding portfolio. As a family-owned and run business, we are delighted that Apex have the same family-values and passion for hospitality, and we wish them best for the next 30 years of Meldrum.”
READ MORE: Apex Hotels invests £2.9m to refurbish Edinburgh property
Jordan Charles will continue to lead the team at Meldrum House further to the deal. He said: “This is a great opportunity for our team to join the Apex Hotels group, and I look forward to helping them drive the business forward.”
Apex said the Meldrum acquisition, which takes its portfolio to 10 hotels, forms part of its strategy to diversify into rural areas. Its expansion plans are supported by a £60 million refinancing package from Barclays.
Earlie this month, Apex announced that it had invested £2.9m to revamp its Grassmarket hotel in Edinburgh. The independent company said it has refurbished 122 bedrooms and corridors and added a further three rooms following the conversion of a former meeting space.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here