THE owner of Bournemouth’s Urban Beach hotel says it is likely to be sold within the next six weeks.

The Boscombe business was the first of several Urban Guild venues and was put on the market last summer for £1.3million.

It is now listed for £995,000 and owner Mark Cribb said he expects it to be bought by someone who wants to continue operating it as a hotel and restaurant, rather than redeveloping the site.

“We dropped the price from £1.2m to £995,000 fairly recently,” he said.

“Now we’re getting a lot of interest.”

He had three viewings lined up when he spoke to the Daily Echo and siad there was “one person particularly keen”.

“I’d be surprised if we didn’t have a deal in the next six weeks,” he added.

“There’s definitely more interest than there was six months ago.

“Financially it looks really good. We had a very strong year. People who come to see it are impressed by the numbers and seem pretty keen.

“Most of the interest I’m getting is people who want it to carry on as Urban Beach or as a going concern.”

Mr Cribb took on the Argyll Road hotel with his wife Fee 16 years ago and said he took only five days off in the first three years of running it.

He has said selling the business would free up money to focus on Urban Reef in Boscombe and especially to invest in Urban Garden, which opened in central Bournemouth in 2020.

Urban Beach has 12 en suite rooms for guests, a 55-cover restaurant and one-bedroom staff quarters.

An online listing describes it as a “highly profitable business with three strong income streams” in the hotel, bistro and cocktail lounge.

It says the full complement of staff would transfer with the business.

Net turnover in the year to March 2022 was £719,000, with an adjusted net profit of £269,000, it says.