Leisure entrepreneurs put popular Oldham restaurant on market for £170k
A duo of businessmen have put a popular Oldham town centre restaurant on the market.
Luke Rafferty and Ata Mubeen are quoting an asking price of £169,950 to take over the lease, plus annual rent of £14,000, for Smoke Yard, on Church Terrace.
They have instructed the business transfer specialist Blacks Business Brokers to find a new owner for the venue to allow them to focus on their other venture, West Ivy in nearby Bury.
Smoke Yard was established by Mr Rafferty and Mr Mubeen in 2015 and is operated under management by a team of 15.
The 74-cover restaurant turned over £568,000 in its latest financial year.
After setting up Smoke Yard Mr Rafferty and Mr Mubeen went on to found West Ivy, which occupies a prominent location in The Rock shopping centre in Bury, in 2017.
They are no longer involved in the day-to-day running of Smoke Yard and say they wish to pass it on to a new owner to enable them to focus on developing the West Ivy brand.
Anthony Meadowcroft, head of new business at Bury-based Blacks Business Brokers, said: “I am really pleased Luke and Ata chose Blacks to find a buyer for Smoke Yard. It’s a lovely business and restaurants are one of our strongest sectors, so I am confident of doing a great job for them.
“Since opening its doors in 2015 Smoke Yard has established a fantastic reputation and is ranked among the top 10 best restaurants in Oldham by Trip Advisor.
“It’s in a fabulous position opposite the town’s Odeon cinema, so it enjoys a great mixture of passing trade and repeat custom – the latter demonstrated by the fact it has more than 40,000 followers on social media.”
He added: “My clients aren’t involved on a day-to-day basis so, although an owner-manager could come in, it would also be really well-suited to an investor or an existing leisure business looking for an immediately profitable bolt-on acquisition.
“There is scope to extend the dining area to accommodate more customers, and also to introduce private function hire and deliveries, and to cater to the breakfast market, so I expect a lot of interest.”
