Hotel entrepreneur kickstarts new venture with Yorkshire acquisition
A property entrepreneur has used a Birmingham-arranged funding package to acquire a Yorkshire hotel.
Anish Bir has used the funding from Allied Irish Bank to acquire the Holiday Inn Leeds Bradford from Kew Green Hotels for an undisclosed sum.
It is the first acquisition of a new venture following his return to the UK after 20 years in Allahabad in India, where he owned and ran a successful hotel.
However, Mr Bir is no stranger to the UK hotel sector having owned two busy hotels in the West Midlands prior to his move to India.
Dating back to the 19th century, the Holiday Inn Leeds Bradford has 53 bedrooms, 10 meeting rooms, restaurant and bar and is a popular wedding venue due to its picturesque location in the Yorkshire countryside.
The hotel will retain its Holiday Inn branding under the ownership of Mr Bir, who will work with the existing management team over the next 12 to 18 months while overseeing a comprehensive refurbishment programme.
Mark Duggan, Senior Relationship Manager at Allied Irish Bank (GB) in Birmingham, who led the deal supported by colleague Corporate Manager Steve Sisson, said: “Anish has a proven track record in the hotel industry gained over many years in the business and we believe that in this first acquisition under his new venture he has chosen a hotel with massive potential.
“AIB (GB)’s research shows that the UK hospitality sector is buoyant, with regional hotels set to hit record occupancy levels in 2017. Anish is well-placed to capitalise on those favourable market conditions and we look forward to seeing how his plans for the Holiday Inn Leeds Bradford come to fruition.”
Anish Bir said: “The current business climate in the UK made this new venture a very attractive proposition for me. I’ve been looking for just the right hotel for quite some time and everything came together when I visited the Holiday Inn Leeds Bradford.
“Not only is the hotel doing very well at the moment but there is also great scope for its future.
“We will continue to invest in the business by starting a programme of refurbishment projects in the New Year, with the aim of securing a four-star rating once those improvements have been made.”
Stewart Coles, of Birmingham law firm Sydney Mitchell provided legal advice to AIB (GB).
Pictured outside the hotel are, from left: Steve Sisson, Allied Irish Bank (GB); Shiban Khashu, Operations Director, Holiday Inn Leeds Bradford; Anish Bir; Stewart Coles, Sydney Mitchell; Mark Duggan, Allied Irish Bank (GB).
