Award winning guest house in York purchased by first-time buyers relocating from the USA
Experienced business professionals, Anthony Lewis and Jonathan Burgoyne, have recently purchased Bloomsbury Guest House in York, with funding successfully secured by specialist commercial finance broker, Christie Finance.
Bloomsbury Guest House, long-established and located in a popular area of York, has been owned by the previous owners since 2009 and has been operated as a lifestyle business. They have decided to sell in order to retire.
The property currently comprises eight en suite letting rooms, providing 16 bed spaces. The retiring vendors closed the business for 35 per cent of the year and only accepted two-night stays. Anthony and Jonathan will now open the guest house 365 days a year and plan on adding a further two letting rooms under a new trading name of ‘The Bishop & The Bison Boutique Hotel’.
Originally from Yorkshire, the couple live in the USA and had been searching for a business in Yorkshire for some time, identifying The Bloomsbury as the perfect fit for them. Anthony has held senior positions with several well-known multinationals including Apple, Xerox and KPMG in both finance and tax roles. Upon returning to the UK, Anthony will seek to continue his career with a local company, while providing strategy, design, accounting, and tax support at the hotel.
Jonathan began his career working for Hilton Hotels, becoming a director of sales for two of the largest Hilton Hotels in the UK. In 2014, he became director of sales for Two Roads Hospitality in California and joined Anthony in Texas in 2018. Jonathan will be the face of the hotel working as hotel anager.
Anthony and Jonathan have several plans to improve the guest house, with a conversion of the resident’s lounge and owner’s accommodation into two additional rooms, as well as decorating and furnishing the existing rooms where necessary. The property will be closed for one month in order for development work to take place and overall improvements to be made. The hotel will be open for trade from 1 November 2020.
The new owners’ comment on their recent acquisition saying, “Craig Dickson at Christie Finance was a tremendous support throughout the process of buying our first business. Craig guided us through what data and information we needed to collate in order to have a complete business plan, and then went away to liaise with banks and summarised the different offers of funding we received. The process was painless and efficient. I would recommend this service for those starting out with a new business who need the additional handholding.”
Craig Dickson, director at Christie Finance who worked with Anthony and Jonathan to help secure the right funding, comments, “It has been an absolute pleasure working with my clients in securing the finance they need to make their dream of owning a hotel in Yorkshire a reality. They both have extensive experience working in business, with impressive careers working for well-known brands. Their commitment to the purchase is undoubted as they are relocating from the USA to fulfil their role as the new owners. I wish them the very best in this new venture and I know they have the enthusiasm to drive the business forward.”
