THE managers of a bar and hotel in Malton are selling up, after 140 years of it being in the family.

Suddaby’s Crown Hotel in Wheelgate has gone on the market after landlords Neil and Karen Suddaby decided to retire.

Neil returned to Malton after an early career working as an engineer in parts of Africa, including Nigeria and Botswana. He said it feels weird to be selling the pub after 33 years of being a landlord.

He added he will still work, but won’t miss the long hours. “We just want to take it easy,” he said.

As for the hotel itself, which is owned by the Fitzwilliam Estate, he said: “Hopefully it will move onwards and upwards.”

The Crown Hotel is not only a pub and hotel, but also home to frequent beer festivals and a key live music venue in the town. The establishment has been in the Suddaby family for a long time; September would mark the start of their 140th year with the establishment.

The history of the building and its association with the family is detailed on the Suddaby’s website. It states that “the existing Georgian building was built in 1827 on the site of the old Ship Inn, and was called the Rose & Crown.

“The Ship Inn is believed to date from the 1600s and the original inn yard and outbuildings still remain.

“The inn was renamed ‘The Crown’ about 1860; at that time the owner was a Mrs Mary Leaper. William Matthew Suddaby became proprietor in 1879 and his wife Adelaide took over the business in 1887, until 1909.

“After that the business was owned by William M Suddaby, and from 1933 his son Robert Arthur. Robert’s grandson, the present landlord Neil Suddaby, is the fifth generation of the family in the hotel.”

The sale of the property includes the bar - on the market for the first time in nearly 150 years - three trade rooms, plus a shop, a function room, six letting bedrooms with potential for four more, private living accommodation, outbuildings which were formerly a brewery, a car park and a beer garden.

The Fitzwilliam Estate has indicated it is prepared to grant a new lease to a purchaser of the business.