A TOP York hotel has been sold for a record sum of almost £13 million.

The 99-bedroom Monkbar Hotel has been bought from Leisurepoint Ltd by Shiva Hotels, a privately-owned and expanding hotel group.

It went for close to the £13 million guide price, in what is thought to be Yorkshire's largest private hotel sale to date.

Estate agent Leigh Parsons, who has been handling the sale of hotel businesses in the region for more than 12 years, said: "To my knowledge this is by far the largest private hotel sale in the county."

Mr Parsons, head of Knight Frank's Northern Hotels and Leisure Department based in Leeds, who acted on behalf of the vendor, said a short period of marketing the business had resulted in a great deal of interest, with a number of potential purchasers.

The hotel, positioned opposite one of York's four original medieval gateways, Monk Bar, and less than 300 yards from York Minster, is operated under management within the Best Western consortium.

As well as 99 en suite bedrooms, it has four conference and function rooms, which can accommodate up to 210 delegates.

But it also has planning permission for a further 25 bedrooms in a four-storey extension, with a leisure facility or further meeting facilities on the ground floor. It caters to both tourists and business people.

Mr Parsons said he was confident that Shiva was the right company to take the hotel through the next phase of its development.

Andrew Lindsay and Martin Frost, from Denison Till solicitors in York, who acted for Leisurepoint, said: "It is rare to see an independently-owned hotel of such size and quality come on the market."

Shiva Hotels already owns and operates the Ramada Excel Hotel in the Docklands area of London.

...while another is to get £1.5m boost

A TOP York hotel is more than doubling its capacity thanks to a £1.5 million investment.

The Churchill, in Bootham, is increasing from 14 to 32 bedrooms, as part of a massive redevelopment due to be completed later this year.

General manager John Wallace said: "We were bursting at the seams. We are very popular with weddings and functions, and we got to a point that we could not go any further within the constraints of the building.

"We got planning permission and this will give us more opportunities.

"We were a decent quality hotel, but just want to go more upmarket and make it really plush, and just stand out from the crowd in York."

As well as increasing the number of rooms, the hotel is also getting new toilets, new disabled access, and a new function room. One of the bars and restaurants has already been redeveloped, and Mr Wallace said the whole lot should be completed by September.

The main part of the hotel is Georgian, but the extension is being done at the back where two 19th century brick buildings stood. Mr Wallace said: "We have also excavated cellars to create more and bigger toilets for customers."