Hotel/guest house for sale in Solway Drive, Walney, Barrow-In-Furness LA14

Property Summary

• A modern and fully fitted 32-bed HMO (House in Multiple Occupation and eight pitch glamping site).
• Situated on Walney Island which forms part of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria in the North West of England.
• West Point House provides 23 en-suite bedrooms and 8 bedrooms with adjacent bathrooms, a self-contained flat for rental, owner occupier or manager use, stylish communal areas and a fully fitted kitchen with multiple cooking stations.
• Private gardens for guest use, well landscaped surroundings and car parking for 35 vehicles.
• West Point Woods incorporates six en-suite glamping pods and two yurts with mains WCs and outside showers in a private setting.
• Demand in the accommodation sector in Barrow-in-Furness is strong, fuelled by BAE Systems who are expanding their shipyard site which is in close proximity to West Point House.
• Well-established business with an excellent reputation and positive customer ratings, suitable for a local or remote operator.

Introduction

This is a unique opportunity to purchase a large fully fitted 32-bedroom HMO which also accommodates the leisure market, being a former local authority facility that was purchased by the existing operators who have invested significant capital to create a modern interior set within a generous site and attractive location on Walney Island. West Point House offers the quality of a hotel for short or long-term stays in a warm and comfortable environment with spacious living areas and kitchen facilities.

With a rating of 5.0 Excellent on TripAdvisor, Speciality Lodging in Barrow-in-Furness, 9.1 'Superb' on from 258 reviews and 9.6 'Exceptional' on, the reputation speaks for itself, attracting repeat business from the professional, contractor and growing leisure markets. West Point House needs to be viewed to appreciate the high standard of the building and business.

Location

West Point House occupies an attractive setting on Walney Island which forms part of Barrow-in-Furness, in South Cumbria and the North West of England. The area has a population of 10,651 (2011 census) and forms an island at the west end of Morecambe Bay and the east shores of the Irish Sea, connected to Barrow-in-Furness by the Jubilee Bridge that spans the picturesque Walney Channel.

There are excellent local facilities with a popular 18-hole links golf course, just a couple minutes' drive from West Point House where there is also miles of stunning coastline, wildlife and nature reserves, making it a popular leisure destination with a holiday park and a number of public houses with restaurants. There is also a private small airport, primary, junior and secondary schools and local retail offerings.

Barrow-in-Furness is the principal town of South Cumbria and is situated at the south of the county boundary, bordered to the southeast by Morecambe Bay, the Irish Sea to the west and the Duddon Channel to the north. Barrow is connected by the A590 which leads to Junction 36 of the M6 motorway some 30 miles east providing links to the north and south.

The town has a resident population of 69,100 (2011 Census) and whilst it is very much known for its industrial and shipbuilding heritage, it lies just 12 miles south of The Lake District National Park. The town has a weighted retail catchment in excess of 70,000 people and a greater district catchment in excess of 108,000 being one of South Cumbria's main retail destinations. Barrow has benefited from substantial inward investment in recent years to improve the Port and Marina facilities and the waterfront in general. Major employers include BAE Systems, Siemens, Kimberley Clark as well as Sellafield at Seascale, which is around 45 miles up the northwest coast.

Barrow has a railway station situated in the town centre, approximately 2 miles from West Point House and provides connections to Whitehaven, Workington and Carlisle via the Cumbrian Coastline and to Ulverston, Grange-over-Sands, Lancaster and Manchester via the Furness and West Coast Mainline.

West Point House is situated on Solway Drive which is on North Walney, connecting with West Shore Road which in turn leads to Mill Lane and then to Promenade travelling along Walney Channel to the A590 Jubilee Bridge, around 1 mile away. The A590 provides access directly to the main BAE Systems site which is on the other side of Jubilee Bridge and then north to Hindpool Road and retail parks where there are a wide range of retail and leisure facilities, including supermarkets, restaurants, cafés, shops and fitness offerings. The town centre with further retailing is around a 10 minute drive away. The A590 travels north through the market town of Ulverston and the southern boundaries of the Lake District National Park, just 12 miles away.

Description

West Point House

West Point House is a detached part single/two storey building, constructed in brick, rendered and pebble dashed in part and painted in cool grey colours, incorporating double glazed windows throughout. A private driveway off Solway Drive enters a dedicated car park for approximately 35 vehicles including an ev charging point and with landscaped gardens to the front, a path slopes gently down to the front entrance and reception.

The reception offers a warm welcome with an adjacent administration office and then corridors off to all parts of the building which is effectively arranged in three wings.

To the rear is a single-storey section that houses much of the communal space, including a 500 sq ft lounge with soft seating and dining area, a large fully fitted kitchen with six cooking stations, a 350 sq ft conference facility, linen and drying room as well as the plant and boiler infrastructure. There are also male and female WCs and two en-suite bedrooms.

On the ground floor east wing, there are five en-suite bedrooms and a further bedroom with an adjacent shower room and on the first floor above, there are six en-suite bedrooms and bedroom with a shower room opposite. The ground floor west wing offers five more en-suite bedrooms as well as three bedrooms with three adjacent bathrooms, stairs to the first floor and a storeroom. The first floor west has six en-suite bedrooms, three rooms sharing two bathrooms and a separate WC as well as a one-bedroom flat.

The breakdown of the guest bedrooms is as follows:

18 x small double en-suites of which half were refurbished in 2022 and half in 2020.

5 x double en-suite of which four were refurbished in 2022.

8 x bedrooms with eight adjacent bathrooms.

1 x one double bedroom flat.

The bedrooms have been refurbished and upgraded in recent years, providing comfortable space with a warm feeling and modern fixtures and fittings including bedroom furniture, TVs and showers are main-fed.

Outside, there is a large, enclosed garden with a timber decking seating area reached from a door in the communal lounge, catching the sun from the south and west as well as having large lawned areas and mature perimeter landscaping.

There is a secondary vehicle point from Solway Drive, sectioned off from the gardens and leading to a loading and refuse area, adjacent to the plant room, laundry and kitchen area and on the east side, there is a private semi-circled shaped courtyard with large brick planter, a mix of wild and well-kept lawned gardens as well as a recently planted orchard.

West Point Woods

A recent addition, West Point Woods is a quaint off-grid and private glamping site offering six en-suite pods and two canvas yurts with WC/shower facilities set in generous plots around a communal seating area and firepit. The modern pods are well-equipped with cooking equipment and crockery as well as BBQ facilities and solar panel charging packs. There are hot water showers, WCs, wash hand basins and the yurts have separate tent mains WCs and open air washing facilities.

Accommodation

The property has the following approximate gross internal areas:

Ground Floor 590.00m2 (6,351 sq ft)

First Floor 374.00m2 (4.026 sq ft)

Total Approximate Gross Internal Area 964.00m2 (10,376 sq ft)

Total Site Area 0.612 Hectares 1.513 Acres

Services

The property is connected to mains electricity, gas, water and the mains drainage/sewerage system.

Heating is via twin gas fired boilers that feed radiators throughout the accommodation as well as water to two large pressurised cylinder tanks offering a continuous supply during peak periods of use.

There are 17.5 kw pv Polar panels on the south pitch feeding electricity into the premises and mitigating electricity bills as well as providing a fit payment of around £2,800-£3,000 per annum. This system could be expanded to make further electricity savings with more pv solar panels and/or a battery storage unit(s).

An electrical vehicle charging point is available on site installed, owned and operated by a third party not-for-profit company and free Wi-Fi is provided to guests in all parts of the building.

It should be noted that the services have not been tested and therefore should not be relied upon.

HMO licence

The premises are licenced through Westmorland & Furness Council as a HMO for 37 bedrooms, one self-contained flat, separate laundry room, living/dining room and with a total of 29 bathrooms. HMO Licence No. 023771

Council tax

The property is rated within Council Tax Band H with annual domestic rates payable for the year 2023/2024 of £3,481.78.

Energy performance certificate

The property has an Energy Efficiency Rating of C75 and the certificate is valid until 12 May 2032. A copy is available on application or to download from the Government's online EPC database.

The business

West Point House is operated by a husband and wife with the support of four core staff who offer management, administration, daily cleaning and linen services as well as part time seasonal employees. The facility is set up for self-catering aimed at the professional, contractor and leisure market. New bookings are secured from a dedicated website - which also has a sister website for the glamping pods - and on both sites, staying guests can check availability, book and pay. Advertising is also undertaken via, is listed in the Speciality Lodging Section of TripAdvisor and on Visit Barrow as well as having a Facebook Page.

Occupancy rates for West Point House generally run at 70% plus and for the year 2023, has been as high as 82%. At West Point Woods, occupancy fluctuates according to the time of year hitting 60-70% plus during warmer holiday periods.

Gross turnover is estimated to be between £331,000, broadly broken down as £285,000 for West Point House and £46,000 from the glamping pods (the latter based on a 7-month season).

Local accommodation market

In recent years, a number of large employment projects, primarily dominated by BAE Systems, has created a high demand for both temporary and medium term residential accommodation in the Barrow-in-Furness area which was ignited by the renewal of the UK's Nuclear Weapons Programme which is being carried out in Barrow's Shipyard and further projects are in the process of being secured which will see BAE Systems provided valuable employment and expansion plans to 2040 and beyond.

In October 2023, BAE Systems announced that the Ministry of Defence had awarded a £3.95bn of funding for the next phase of the UK's next-generation nuclear-powered submarine programme, known as ssn-aukus which is to be the largest, most powerful and advanced attack submarines the Royal Navy has ever operated. This award will also fund significant infrastructure investment at BAE Systems' site in Barrow-in-Furness providing investment in a supply chain and recruitment of more than 5,000 people, growing its workforce to more than 12,500 including around 900 new apprentices and graduates (Source: BAE Systems).

Learning Quarter Scheme

Alongside the development of Barrow's state of the art Central Yard facility, the largest shipyard in the UK, a partnership between the University of Cumbria, BAE Systems, Lancaster University, Furness College and Westmorland & Furness Council is developing a 7-acre educational campus adjacent to the main shipyard and is expected to be completed by Autumn 2024.

The Barrow Learning Quarter will create a full university presence to attract and retain talented graduates in areas such as advanced manufacturing, business, computing, education and health, offering specialist teaching spaces (Source: University of Cumbria).

BAE Systems Training Centre

In early 2023, BAE Systems purchased the vacant retail unit formerly occupied by Debenhams, wh Smith and The Body Shop in Portland Walk which forms part of the Barrow-in-Furness town centre and is refurbishing the buildings to create an educational and training hub for new recruits and recent graduates, also offering an interactive submarine experience and the role Barrow has in the UK's defence industry. Work has already begun on Phase I, developing a multi-agency recruitment office and this will attract trainees from all over the UK. Phase I commenced in September 2023 (Source: BAE Systems).

In addition to the above, several other sites have been acquired by BAE Systems in the local Barrow-in-Furness area, with planning applications submitted for large-scale construction projects and all of this is fuelling the demand for bed spaces with occupancy rates reported as being very high, particularly during the week. Other projects outside of BAE Systems include Walney Wind Farm, Kimberley Clark, an £80m investment by Centrica at Barrow Gas Terminal and there is demand from workers at Furness General Hospital.

Management angles

West Point House provides an established and successful HMO facility that takes advantage of a mix of markets and staying guests. The premises could be further developed to convert six of the existing rooms without bathrooms to form four en-suite rooms (plans and building regulations are in place).

Convert the conference room to more letting bedrooms, subject to planning.

Existing price point and charges per room per night are competitive and there could be potential to adjust these upwards.

The facility is currently aimed at the self-catering guests, there may be the opportunity to enhance the offering with meals to increase income (West Point House is registered as a food business with the local authority).

An indicative scheme has been drawn up for conversion of the existing accommodation to 26 self-contained studios which will be for more permanent lettings, subject to planning and change of use.

Expand the glamping site.

Proposal

The property is offered freehold (Title Number: CU86209) as shown on the attached plan (for identification purposes only and not to scale).

Poa

money laundering legislation

Edwin Thompson is bound to comply with Anti-Money Laundering legislation including obtaining evidence of the identity and proof of address of potential buyers. Prior to an offer being accepted, interested parties will need to provide the requested evidence.

Easements, wayleaves and rights of way

The land and property are sold subject to and with the benefit of all public and private rights of way, lights, drainage, cables, pylons or other easements, restrictions or obligations whether or not the same are described in these particulars of sale.

VAT

The Seller has advised that the land and property are not VAT registered and therefore VAT is not payable on the sale consideration.

Legal costs

Each party to bear their own legal costs in the preparation and settlement of the sale documentation together with any VAT thereon.

Viewing

The property is available to view by prior appointment with Edwin Thompson llp. Contact:

John Haley or Ellie Oakley at our Kendal Office.

Important notice

Edwin Thompson for themselves and for the Vendor/Landlord of this property, whose Agents they are, give notice that:

The particulars are set out as a general outline only for the guidance of intending purchasers and do not constitute, nor constitute part of, any offer or contract.
All descriptions, dimensions, plans, reference to condition and necessary conditions for use and occupation and other details are given in good faith and are believed to be correct, but any intending purchasers should not rely on them as statements or representations of fact but must satisfy themselves by inspection or otherwise as to their correctness.
No person in the employment of Edwin Thompson has any authority to make or give any representation or warranty whatsoever in relation to this property or these particulars, nor to enter into any contract relating to the property on behalf of the Agents, nor into any contract on behalf of the Vendor.
No responsibility can be accepted for loss or expense incurred in viewing the property or in any other way in the event of the property being sold or withdrawn.
These particulars were prepared in November 2023.