Lease up for grabs on vacant Batchwood Hall building

An opportunity has been opened for a new operator to take over the lease on the vacant Batchwood Hall and re-establish it as a leading hospitality venue.

Designed in the Queen Anne style and built in 1874 for Edmund Beckett, the building has served a variety of uses over the years.

The manor house began its life as a private estate until St Albans district ouncil purchased the property in 1935, when an 18-hole golf course was built in the grounds.

From the 1970s, the property was home to St Albans’ largest nightclub, Club Batchwood.

Most recently, having closed during the pandemic, the hall has been used as a vaccination centre to support the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

Now Batchwood Hall is vacant, the district council is looking for an ambitious new hospitality operator to breathe life back into the iconic building and begin a new chapter in its history.

Specialist business property advisor Christie & Co is marketing the building, and following a strategic review feels a new high-quality pub-restaurant with letting rooms will appeal most to the local community, as well as visitors to the adjacent Batchwood Leisure Centre and golf club, which collectively receive up to 700 visitors per day.

Marketing material describes the substantial three-storey building as quiet yet well-connected and surrounded by landscaped park land.

It says the site offers significant scope to develop a stunning destination which complements the historic fabric of the building, just minutes from St Albans city centre.

Batchwood Hall in St Albans. (Image: Christie & Co)

The council is willing to offer flexible lease terms and incentives to ensure a long-term partnership with the new operator.

Council estates services manager Tom Hardy said: “This is a rare opportunity for both the council and a future operator, it is not often we are able to offer a lease for such a historically significant building.

“Batchwood Hall is much loved locally and there is huge scope and potential for the right operator to create something rather special, further enhancing what is on offer at the Batchwood estate.”

Inside the iconic Club Batchwood. (Image: Christie & Co)

Tim Widdows, business agent in Christie & Co’s licensed hospitality team, is leading the search for the new lessee: “We’re delighted to be working with St Albans council to develop a wonderful new food and beverage business in the community.

“Following a refurbishment programme, this historic property could be reimagined to be the one of the highest income-generating and unique properties in the area.”