Antoinette Hotels acquires fourth venue and first outside London

The New Forest hotel was bought by Antoinette from Evergreen Hotels which will now concentrate on running the Calcot Hotel in Reading. The deal was brokered by the real estate advisory organisation Colliers International. 

The Best Western Crown Hotel was operated by Evergreen since 2001 but the history of the site can reportedly be traced back to the early 1600s when it was thought to have been the location of a coaching inn which then became a hotel. The current Grade II listed building dates from the late 1800s.

New bedrooms​

Antoinette Hotel Group, owned by the Buzasi brothers, now operates four hotels - all located in the capital. The Antoinette Hotel in Wimbledon and a property of the same name in Kingston upon Thames are joined in the group portfolio by the Surbiton boutique venue Hotel Bosco.

The company now plans to refresh the branding of the Lyndhurst hotel and invest in excess of £1m into the property, including creating a number of new bedrooms. The Crown currently has 39 letting bedrooms but with the potential, and lapsed planning permission, for at least four more.

Crown Brasserie​

Colliers Hotels director Peter Brunt said the venue, which was on the market at £2.5m freehold although the final sale price has not been revealed, is a good buy for the growing hotel group.

"This is a great acquisition for the Buzasi brothers. The Crown has a fabulous location in one of the country’s most visited areas and I am sure they will make great strides to build on the excellent reputation that our clients had already established for the business. Situated at the top of the High Street in Lyndhurst, the Crown Hotel makes an ideal base to explore the surrounding 93,000 acres of National Park. Lymington, Beaulieu and Mudeford are close by with Southampton and Bournemouth an easy drive away," he said.

The hotel currently attracts a mix of business, leisure and local guests and caters for various functions in the five meeting, conference and banqueting suites. The hotel also contains a recently refurbished 60-cover restaurant, the Crown Brasserie, which overlooks Lyndhurst High Street to the front.