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08
Oct
Landmark commercial property on A59 near Harrogate up for sale
A landmark commercial property on the A59 near Harrogate has been put up for sale for offers over £1.5 million.
The sale of the Toad Hall Emporium at Kettlesing incorporates the Toad Hall coffee shop, which was launched in March, residential accommodation, a substantial former commercial kitchen and an office currently used by Whittams motorhome business.
Outside, there is a large carpark, mobile office unit and a static caravan operated as an Airbnb, as well as a paddock, stables and a wind turbine.
The coffee shop.
Owner Mark Trickett, who owns the property and businesses with his wife Teresa, told the Stray Ferret they put the property up for sale to test the market.
He said:
We’re taking each enquiry as it comes. If someone put in a good offer, we’d be stupid not to entertain that.
We’ve had a couple of interested parties, including some agency in London that was interested in turning into a SEND [special educational needs and disabilities] school, but nothing’s over the line yet.
We’re asking a pretty penny, so it’ll have to be a considered purchase. We’re just looking at the options for the time being. We’re not rushing into anything.
The premises formerly traded as the Outside Inn, and before that as the Millstones restaurant.
Mr Trickett said the property was perfectly suited to the hospitality business, but that it could also be put to any number of other uses:
It’s got good and bad points. You can’t get a much better location, on a busy road with about 10,000 cars passing every week. It’s a great spot.
But on the other hand, something this size would take some investment to mould it to the buyer’s own usage.
Toad Hall Emporium.
Part of their motivation to sell has also come from a desire to improve their work-life balance.
Between working in the Whittams motorhome business and converting the property in readiness to launch Toad Hall, Mr Trickett said he had been working seven days a week.
To free up some time, the couple had sold the rental side of their motorhome business and discontinued their popular carvery offering.
It felt a bit like Groundhog Day. We enjoy hard work – we're not slackers, by any stretch of the imagination – but the last five years have at times felt like one long continual slog.
As for the future, Mr Trickett said he was “in two minds”, between retirement and carrying on in business.
He said:
We’re too young to literally drop off the map – we still want to have some relevance – so we’ll see how things go.
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