A 103-ROOM hotel near Amesbury has been acquired by new owners for £12.5million.

Bowling Green Asset Management (BGAM) has bought the Holiday Inn Salisbury - Stonehenge in Solstice Park after having it in its sights for many months.

The owners will retain the current senior management team and all existing employees as it looks to create new opportunities to boost profits.

BGAM directors Jamie Levy and Nicholas Rubin said: “This hotel has been a target of ours for some time, so we are pleased to complete the purchase.

“The hotel has been run on a sound footing previously and we have no intention of upsetting the applecart. Many of the staff have been with the hotel for a number of years and we hope they remain with us for the foreseeable future.

“We will be looking to expand the hotel offerings, along with continuing the hunt for potential acquisitions”.

The sale was handled by Julian Troup, head of Hotels Agency and Paul Barrasford, director at Colliers International.

Mr Troup said: “Our instructions were to handle the marketing in a confidential fashion. Having approached a “target list” of overseas and domestic potential buyers, a good deal of interest was expressed in this outstanding opportunity.

“The interest expressed follows a pattern of increasing demand for U.K. provincial hotels, particularly for global branded stock. We are seeing an emerging trend of increased demand for quality provincial hotel opportunities from a diverse buyer set, including international investors, who have been attracted by weaker sterling; and from private buyers, attracted to the benefits of a lifestyle opportunity, to corporate investors attracted to favourable returns and real estate alternatives. Since the beginning of 2016, over 20 per cent of UK hotel sales completed by Colliers were to international buyers.

“This is a great end to the year and we are looking forward to an improving level of hotel transactional activity in 2018.”