THE popular Bournemouth hotel Urban Beach has been put on the market for a guide price of £1.3million.

Owner Mark Cribb said he was “testing the market” to see whether a new operator would take the business on.

He founded the hotel, on Agryll Road, Boscombe, as the first of several Urban Guild venues.

“I would love somebody who was as young and enthusiastic as I was, when I got it 16 years ago, to take it on and continue its thing rather than being redeveloped as flats,” he said.

“It’s a great local business. It’s a really nice product and I would genuinely love someone to come and take it on for the next phase.”

The hotel has 12 en suite rooms and a 55-cover restaurant, as well as space for around 100 diners outside. There is also staff accommodation with one bedroom.

The full complement of staff would transfer to the new owner.

An online estate agency listing describes it as a “highly profitable business with three strong income streams”. Accounts for the year ended March 2019 showed a turnover of £868,000 and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes depreciation and amortisation) of £204,000.

Mr Cribb and his wife Fee bought the venue as a traditional bed and breakfast and turned it into a popular hotel and bistro.

“In three years, I think I had five days off,” he said.

He said a new owner would “maybe change the name” but would take on the business as a going concern.

Mark Cribb of Urban Guild on how Bournemouth is set to keep growing

“I would like a new owner to go in there and give it the level of attention that it deserves,” he added.

He said selling the venue would free up money to focus on his other businesses, Urban Reef in Boscombe and particularly Urban Garden, which opened in central Bournemouth last year.

Urban Guild to open restaurant in Bournemouth's Lower Gardens and sell Jenkins & Sons

“We’ve developed plans that we want to do with Urban Garden. If we can take the money, we will invest it in Urban Garden,” he added.

  • A family-run hotel on the edge of the New Forest in Christchurch is also on the market, for £2.7m, and could potentially be converted into homes.

The 14-bedroom Tyrrells Ford Country Inn is midway between Christchurch and Ringwood on the B3347 at Avon. The 18th century home became a hotel in the 1970s.

An online listing says the current owners have operated the business successfully for 13 years and are looking to retire.

A new owner could turn the owner’s suite of rooms into bedrooms and convert the outbuildings, the listing says.

But the property could also be converted for residential use, or have holiday lodges or extra hotel accommodation added, subject to planning permission, it added.