Tycoon turns to hotels

Apr 22 2008 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette

THE YORKSHIRE entrepreneur who sold data-management business, Nucleus Data, to its major competitor, Brulines of Stockton, in a headline- grabbing £3.8m deal earlier this year, is concentrating on building a portfolio of country hotels in the region.

The George at Piercebridge, near Darlington, the Bridge Hotel at Catterick Bridge, and the White Rose Hotel at Leeming Bar, which range in size from 18 to 37 bedrooms, are the first to be acquired by the family trust of Tadcaster-based Jim Walsh as he restructures his pub business.

The hotels, which were owned by Walsh’s Tadcaster Pub Holdings, will be managed by the existing leaseholders.

At the same time, Tadcaster Pub Holdings has sold 30 pubs and hotels in Yorkshire and the North-east to Scottish & Newcastle Pub Enterprises for £15m. Tadcaster Pub Holdings has retained ownership of another 32 outlets in the region.

The serial entrepreneur, who six years ago sold 75 pubs to the Punch Pub Company for £19m, said he intended to stay in the licensed trade, where he started in 1991 with an initial investment of just £500.

Managing director of Tadcaster Pub Holdings, James Crawfurd-Porter, said: “This was an opportune time for the business to realise the value of some of its assets, but Jim and I have certainly not lost our appetite to carry on building the business with more acquisitions of pubs and hotels in the region.

Jim Walsh said: “We are well aware of the many short and medium-term difficulties facing the licensed trade at the moment, not least the smoking ban, red tape, and the latest hike in duty on beer, but we remain confident in the long- term value of investment in community pubs and small, character hotels.

“We will continue to make judicious acquisitions of single outlets or small groups of outlets where we believe our special management approach can help the right leaseholder to grow the business.”