Rock Restaurants Switches Focus to Hospitality Venues
June 30, 2014
Rock Restaurants has – through Davis Coffer Lyons has sold the leasehold interest in The Minster Arms in Wimborne in Dorset to an expanding pub group led by Nick Warner, for an undisclosed sum. The disposal is part of the Colonial Leisure Limited backed companys strategy to focus on its other hospitality venues.
The spacious free-of-tie public house and restaurant is located close to the centre of the historic market town. It has an extensive ground floor trading area with bar and dining for over 85 covers as well as an enclosed beer garden for an additional 45 customers. It also benefits from a 2am licence and historic planning permission to convert 10-letting rooms on the upper floors.
Warner has over 18 years experience in the licensed sector, most recently in an operational capacity. He opened his first gastropub, The Swan Inn in Barton Stacey, Hampshire in October 2011, which recently underwent an extensive refurbishment. In 2012, he purchased The Olive Tree in Romsey, which is now a market town-style gastropub. His latest venture, The Minster Arms, is expected to reopen in July (2014).
Nick Warner, said: This is a very exciting time for myself as a company and opening the third venue in our third year is exactly where I wanted to be. We will have three excellent free houses that trade well above the average and are looking strong for the fourth.
Chris Bickle, Associate Director at Davis Coffer Lyons said: “Wimborne Minster is a delightful town which, with the other attractions that surround, draws in plenty of tourist business to supplement local custom. The Minster Arms is an equally appealing proposition; free of tie, spacious interior and extensive uppers, all of which appealed to Nicks ambitions.”
