Rare Opportunity to acquire historic Ship Inn on Stonehaven Harbourside is brought to market by DM Hall
Current owner set to retire after 20 years of successful trading.
DM Hall, the leading Scottish independent firm of chartered surveyors, is marketing The Ship Inn, Shorehead, Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire AB39 2JY, an historic traditional public house with eleven letting bedrooms in a prosperous location whose origins go back to 1771. Price is available on application.
The Ship Inn sits within the affluent town of Stonehaven on the North-east coast of Scotland, around 16 miles to the South of Aberdeen. Home to famous Dunnottar Castle, Stonehaven enjoys a large number of visitors thought the year who visit the town to enjoy its beautiful coastal setting and picturesque town harbour. The property has come to market as a result of the current owner’s impending retirement.
The town also hosts a series of annual local events focused on the harbour, including an annual beer festival, a folk music festival each July, and the annual high point which is the Fireball celebration at Hogmanay.
Stonehaven also boasts a dramatic, clifftop 18-hole golf course, Scotland’s only volunteer-managed Art Deco Olympic sized outdoor heated swimming pool and a popular holiday caravan site.
A successful and profitable hostelry with a complement of 25 local staff – full and part-time, and up to 40 in the busy summer months, The Ship Inn is formed in three distinct, interlinked sections comprising the original building which accommodates the lounge bar and six en-suite letting bedrooms, a modern extension which contains the highly rated Captain’s Table, a 38 cover restaurant which specialises in seafood, as well as a further five en-suite letting bedrooms, and an extension to the rear of the original building containing customer toilets, a utility room and a staff locker room.
A lounge bar, with seating for 50 guests, fitted and finished in a traditional style with a nod to the nautical heritage of the building, offers a range of refreshments, with an open fire in winter, and a sun terrace overlooking the harbour where seating is provided for 32 around several fixed tables.
The current owner, Simon Cruickshank, said: “Owning the Ship Inn has been a great experience and very rewarding but at 66 I think it’s time for my partner Irene and I to spend a bit more time together and to go travelling. I also have a brother in New Zealand who I’d like to visit. But whoever is fortunate enough to acquire The Ship Inn will find it hard work but also a truly enjoyable experience and I wish them great success.”
Stuart Johnston, a partner in the Aberdeen office of DM Hall, who is overseeing the sales process said: “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to acquire what is widely regarded as a local institution as well as an excellent business in a prosperous, vibrant location, owned and traded very successfully by the same person, Simon, for the past twenty years.
“Scotland’s licensed trade certainly has its challenges but what Simon has done at The Ship Inn by investing heavily and consistently in refurbishment and high standards of maintenance and decoration is to create a fine property in walk-in condition with a first-class offering which is valued and appreciated by both the people of Stonehaven and its many visitors.
“Price is available on application. Trading information and accounts will be made available to the professional advisors of seriously interested parties following the completion of a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) which can be provided on request.
“Interested parties should contact me, Stuart Johnston, on 07913 046 226 or e-mail: business.sales@dmhall.co.uk.”
DM Hall has a network of offices across Scotland and in 2023 expanded into the North of England with the acquisition of Hyde Harrington, an established firm of Chartered Surveyors based in Carlisle and Kendal.
You can see all of DM Hall’s available commercial property listed on NovaLoca here and the listing for The Ship Inn can be found here.
