A popular Ambleside hotel has been sold to an expanding North East company for an undisclosed sum.
The Waterhead Hotel, which has direct access to Windermere, has been bought by The Inn Collection Group.
The 38-bedroom venue will reopen as The Waterhead Inn on May 17 and continue trading before a planned refurbishment in 2022.
The Inn Collection Group has 22 hotels across the North of England – including eight in the Lake District.
The Inn Collection Group’s managing director Sean Donkin said: “We are thrilled to have completed on The Waterhead and to be bringing another extraordinary site into the group as we prepare for the expected staycation boom amid surging consumer demand for UK leisure destinations.
“We are continuing to expand at pace and have organised ourselves internally to deal with greater than anticipated expansion. It’s a phenomenal achievement and a real credit to our team, our investors and our associates.
“The Waterhead has long been in our sights and we are excited to bring this remarkable venue and its team into The Inn Collection Group family.”
The acquisition was supported by Colliers International, which acted on behalf of the vendors and co-ordinated sale negotiations.
Julian Troup, head of hotel agency at Colliers, said: “The sale of The Waterhead Hotel to The Inn Collection Group is one of several Lakeland hotel and hospitality business sales Colliers has agreed in recent months and vividly illustrates the intense demand for prime hotel and inn opportunities in this hugely popular staycation region.
“There is no sign of this demand abating, and on the contrary we are anticipating it to increase given that staycation break trade is continuing to soar in popularity as holidaymakers increasingly choose to remain in the UK.”
The acquisition, which was completed in an undisclosed deal, follows the group’s purchase of the neighbouring The Wateredge Inn at Waterhead Bay in March.
In Ambleside itself, the group is carrying out a major refurbishment of the former Churchills inn site which it plans to reopen as The Temperance Inn in August.
Its 30-bedroom The Ambleside Inn will reopen on 17 May.
Elsewhere in the Lakes, the Alchemy-backed group, which is supported with banking from OakNorth, owns The Angel Inn at Bowness on Windermere; The Coniston Inn at Coniston; The Swan at Grasmere and The Pheasant at Bassenthwaite.
Outside Cumbria it has venues in Northumberland, County Durham, Yorkshire and Lancashire while a 40-bedroom, new-build site on Sunderland’s seafront at Seaburn is set to open on 1 June.
