Restaurantparty venue up for sale

Feb 19 2008 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette

A MUCH-LOVED Teesside party venue has been put up for sale.

The Regency Suite, a 150-seat restaurant just outside Middlesbrough, has stood almost in defiance of the enormous changes going on around it.

It has been placed on the market through business brokers Lakey and Co for £350,000.

Located in Kings Road, just off the market place in North Ormesby, Norman Baum’s Regency Suite - to give it its full title - is situated in one of the town’s historical buildings, dating from 1871.

The style and much of the décor of the restaurant, while regularly refreshed, have remained unaltered for the best part of three decades. The walls are decorated with photographs and collectables that provide a record of events, local and national.

From wedding receptions to Christmas lunches the restaurant has fed and entertained generations of people.

More than 3,000 people are already booked in for Christmas celebrations.

Next year, a local couple will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary with a buffet party at the Regency Suite - 30 years to the day after they celebrated their ruby wedding anniversary in the restaurant.

“I’m selling because I am 81, I have a few health problems and I want to retire,” said owner Norman Baum. “But if a buyer doesn’t come in, I’ll keep on going. I won’t shut the Regency Suite.”

Mr Baum wants to spend more time with his wife, Renee, at their home in London where they moved several years ago to be closer to their three children and nine grandchildren.

Mr Baum, who was born in Middlesbrough, bought his first property in North Ormesby in 1949, a little shop in Smeaton Street selling paraffin.

He bought his first property in Kings Road in 1952, opening a café downstairs, and renovating the top floor into a restaurant.

Over the years, he bought properties either side and carried on renovations until the Regency Suite occupied five properties.

The job of selling the Regency Suite has been handed to Jonathan Ward, of business-for-sale specialists Lakey and Co.

Mr Ward said: “The Regency Suite seems to capture a forgotten age. As soon as you walk in you get a deep sense of the history and the affection everyone has for the restaurant. It embodies the history of North Ormesby and has obviously been lovingly cared for by Mr Baum and his staff.”

Of those staff, one - Judy Adams - has worked at the Regency Suite for 28 years.