TALKS are still underway to find a buyer for a landmark hotel in Enniskillen after it failed to sell at a recent auction in Belfast.
The Railway Hotel had been due to go under the hammer just before Easter with a maximum reserve of £220,000.
The Forthill Street property was previously linked with a number of budget hotel chains and it was hoped that it could attract the interest of outside companies.
The Railway Hotel had been in existence for 130 years, with 20 ensuite bedrooms arranged over the ground and three upper floors along with a bar, restaurant and function room. It was being auctioned by Belfast-based estate agents Lambert Smith Hampton who stated that its prominent position in Enniskillen town centre makes it an “ideal owner occupier or investor purchase”. Their brochure also noted that “the property is in need of some modernisation throughout”.
Surveyor Daphne Mahon from Lambert Smith Hampton confirmed to the Herald this week that they are in talks with two parties at the moment.
She added: “There was some interest in the site on the day of the auction but unfortunately it didn’t meet our expectations. We are having a number of different conversations with two interested groups. There is huge potential for the site so we would be hopeful of a positive outcome.”
Kesh property developer David Mahon acquired the Railway Hotel and adjoining Ritz Cinema last August after it had been up for sale for a collective £400,000. He took the decision to sell after a number of negotiations to develop the hotel fell through but has said he still intends to develop the cinema site.
Previously, the hotel was jointly owned by two business partners, James Crozier and Owen McKenna who took the decision to sell on health grounds. The partners had run the Railway for the previous 16 years, having acquired it from Peter and Imelda Byrne who were its owners from January 1976.
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