Ex-legion base is set to be new care home
AFORMER respite centre for armed forces veterans is to be converted into a nursing home after closing down last year.
Royal British Legion last year shut Byng House, as well as similar facilities in Northern Ireland, North Yorkshire and Weston-super-Mare, with the charity saying it needed to focus its resources to meet the changing needs of its service users.
The centre opened at Promenade in Southport in 1982 and was used to provide free short term breaks for veterans and their families.
Staff and visitors were left unhappy with the closure, but protests involving residents and politicians went unheard as the RBL argued the increase in people needing support with housing, financial issues, mental health and wellbeing and mobility meant it needed to target different priorities.
The Grade II listed building was listed for sale at a guide price of £1.65 million and has now been sold to Premcard Ltd for an undisclosed price. Premcard already runs the town’s Elm House Nursing Home, based on Cambridge Road, which is rated ‘Good’ by the CQC.
The London-based company is now planning to reopen the building, which features 36 en-suite bedrooms, a bar, activity room, hair salon, games room and cinema room, as a nursing home.
Robert Smithson, senior surveyor in the Hotels Agency team at Colliers International which acted on behalf of the Royal British Legion, said that the sale reflected current trends in the market.
“There was a high level of interest in this property, both from hospitality operators seeking to continue to run it as a hotel, and also from bidders who could see the potential for alternative uses,” he said.
“This has become an increasing trend in hotel sales, with significant interest being shown in high quality properties such as this one which lend themselves to conversion for purposes such as healthcare and residential.
“The shift towards hotels being purchased for alternative uses has undoubtedly added a new dimension to the UK hotels market, which is currently seeing keen competition for prime properties in popular tourist areas which showed excellent booking levels between national lockdowns in 2020 and are expected to do so again in 2021.”
David Rosenberg of Premcard Ltd said: “We are very excited to continue the role that the iconic Byng House had in serving the community, and we will be supporting and adding much needed nursing facilities to the area.
“The building is beautiful and allows us to continue to provide the highest quality nursing care within a homely community. This will be in addition to our existing nursing home, Elm House.”