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Aberdeen’s Atholl Hotel up for sale with £3.5 million price tag

One owner is retiring and his partner wants to focus on other hospitality businesses.

Richard Nicoll and Gordon Sinclair at the Atholl Hotel in Aberdeen.
Left-right: Richard Nicoll and Gordon Sinclair at the Atholl Hotel in Aberdeen. Image: Tricker PR

An Aberdeen dining institution, The Atholl Hotel on King’s Gate, is up for sale at offers over £3.5 million.

It is a long-time hotspot for social and business gatherings in the city and is on the open market for the first time in 35 years.

The hotel’s managing partner, Gordon Sinclair, 69, is retiring from the hospitality industry after nearly 50 years.

Its other co-owner, Richard Nicoll, 40, plans to focus on business interests elsewhere. These include The Dutch Mill Hotel, in Aberdeen, and The Broadstraik Inn, in Westhill. The latter establishment is currently being refurbished and is due to reopen in autumn.

Inside The Atholl Hotel.
Inside The Atholl Hotel. Image: Tricker PR

Mr Nicoll and his father, Gordon, owned a lion’s share of the Atholl until a couple of years ago, with Mr Sinclair holding a smaller stake. Gordon Nicoll died in November 2021, aged 66, after battling cancer.

Mr Sinclair has been a hands-on partner since 1996 but his links to the hotel go back further. He started his hospitality career there as a trainee, from 1974 to 1978, while it was under the ownership of renowned Aberdeen hotelier Stewart Spence and his wife, Sheila.

Gordon Sinclair says it will be a ‘wrench’ to leave the popular hotel

Apart from brief spells in a few other local hospitality businesses – such as Charlies, the Palm Court and The Craighar, where he was operations director alongside owner Ricky Simpson, the Atholl has been part of Mr Sinclair’s professional life more years than not.

He said: “It’s been the highly enjoyable backdrop to the majority of my working life. It will be a wrench to leave, but the time is right for me to retire and spend more time with family and friends.

The hotel is a popular spot for all kinds of social and business gatherings, such as this get-together for retired Automobile Association staff in 1983. Image: DC Thomson

“I’ve been fortunate to work with an incredible team of dedicated hospitality professionals, many of whom have worked here in excess of 30 years.

“We’ve spent good times and more recently during the pandemic, some very challenging times together and throughout the consistent guest feedback has been heavily weighted towards comments about how special the staff are.”

Managing partner, Gordon Sinclair, pictured in 2005 when he was forced to put up a notice denying the hotel was for sale. Rumours were rife that it was to go on the market for£4 million.
Managing partner, Gordon Sinclair, pictured in 2005 when he was forced to put up a notice denying the hotel was for sale. Rumours were rife that it was to go on the market for £4 million. Image: Nick Anderson

The Aberdeen institution is currently number two on Tripadvisor for hotels in the city.

It is described by guests on the review platform as “faultless”, “amazing”, and “warm and friendly, with “unbelievably cheery and helpful staff”.

The four-star hotel has 34 en suite rooms for up to 62 guests and boasts better-than-average occupancy rates – currently 90%, against the 70% typically seen across Scotland, according to RMS Hotel Tracker.

It has two function rooms, a restaurant, bar and lounge area which together seat up to 129 guests, along with a car park for up to 64 vehicles.

One of The Atholl Hotel's plush bedrooms.
One of The Atholl Hotel’s plush bedrooms. Image: Tricker PR Date

Hospital is growing source of business for the hotel on King’s Gate

The visitor mix includes leisure and business travellers from the UK and overseas, as well as Aberdeen Royal Infirmary (ARI) patients, family visitors and medical professions.

Mr Nicoll said: “One of the unexpected consequences of the pandemic is that, as the hospital works through the back log of cancelled appointments and operations, there’s more call for accommodation close the ARI c

Night-time view of The Atholl Hotel in 1962.
Night-time view of The Atholl Hotel in 1962.

omplex. We’ve seen a significant rise in occupancy from this source.

“Gordon and I are confident that new owners will be taking on a thriving business which will continue to benefit from the lively mix of local diners, and leisure and business guests, and that The Atholl Hotel will remain the focus of family gatherings for Aberdonians.”

More than 130 years of history

The property was built as a private home in 1892 and became a hotel in 1946.

The last time it was on the open market was in 1963. The Yule family bought it and ran it for nine years until a private sale to Mr Spence, who sold it in 1989 to David Parkinson and Bill Hogg and went on to own and run the five-star Marcliffe at Pitfodels.

Stewart Spence.
Hospitality industry veteran Stewart Spence is a former owner of the Atholl.

Mr Parkinson retired in 2006, selling his stake in the Atholl to Gordon Nicoll, while Richard Nicoll acquired Mr Hogg’s interest in 2018.

The hotel is being marketed by specialist business broker Bruce & Co. Prospective buyers are invited to contact Bradley Wilson, sales negotiator, by email at bradley.wilson@altiusgroup.co.uk or by phone on 01772 376556.

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