Shrubbery Hotel put on the market for £1.5m (From This is The West Country)

Shrubbery Hotel put on the market for £1.5m

5:00pm Wednesday 26th September 2012 in News

WELL-KNOWN hoteliers Stuart and Liz Shepherd have put Ilminster’s Shrubbery Hotel on the market with a price tag of £1.5million.

The couple have run the hotel in Station Road for almost half a century, but have taken the decision to take life a little easier.

Mr Shepherd said: “It’ll take some time to adjust to retirement, but we have no intention of leaving Ilminster.

“We’re both in our early 70s and it’s about time we started taking things easier.

“However, it’s business as usual.”

“We’re looking for an experienced hotelier to operate the hotel in the manner that we have – in other words caring for the staff, caring for the community and maintaining the reputation of the Shrubbery Hotel.”

The Shepherds met at Battersea College of Technology, now the University of Sur-rey, in 1959 and married at the end of their course in 1963 when they took up the position of managers of the Shrubbery Hotel before buying the freehold on the property in 1966.

Over the past 50 years at the Shrubbery they have developed the hotel into one of the leading venues in the county, and it has developed a fine reputation in the community.

Earlier this year, the hotel received an international quality award and a plaque to mark 25 years membership with the Best Western consortium.

The sale of the Shrubbery Hotel is being handled by Jonathan Hill, of Christie & Co – anyone wanting further information can contact him on 0117-9468500.