North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

I think the reference was to the Station Hotel. However, I tend to agree with the "rabbit hole" comment - the needs of working volunteers and hotel guests are distinct, and trying to serve both may mean that neither is done well. Not to mention that hotel margins are not so fat as to allow significant numbers of "free" room nights without creating conflict between running the business for profit, and running it for volunteers' benefit.

 

Er, this twist in the conversation is about the Station Hotel at Pickering!

 

Apologies I'd missed Steve's post including the Pickering Station Hotel. Nonetheless the hotel game is a very demanding low margin operating space. Whilst I agree a business could make a good go at creating a railway themed hotel experience, I don't agree that its the right path for the NYMR to take. It would require a lot of investment of both time and money which I don't think should be the right priority to go for with the current state of other areas.

 

As it stands,the Station Hotel is moving from being an asset into a liability as no maintenance is being done on it.

 

As I understand, the Station Hotel was bought by a Benefactor, and I understand that at present the Trust are undertaking an accommodation review / strategy (0ffices, volunteer accommodation, holiday accommodation). Makes perfect sense, with in IMHO:
Should mulberries (was a cafe before acquired now office accommodation) remain as offices, become a cafe again
Should existing Park Street offices revert to volunteer accommodation or remain as offices
Should Station Hotel become offices and / or volunteer accommodation or revert to pub / hotel (or indeed sold)
Should Grosmont Station House remain as visitor accommodation or become offices
With Snape remaining as volunteer / youth group accommodation as per Grant requirements (as Lineisclear inferred earlier “no Snape then no carriage accommodation and bridge renewal period)
Plus
What about exiting Goathland Station Masters House and carriage accommodation (the latter a mix of holiday and volunteer accommodation)? Ps I’ve heard the volunteer coach accommodation is not the best being a tad cold in winter)
What about the existing Grosmont volunteer accommodation
What about Levisham cottage volunteer accommodation and carriage holiday accommodation?
Maybe add Pig Farm into the mix

Makes sense to determine a property strategy first before spending a bean on Station Hotel (or indeed else where) in case money after bad. But Station House it was acquired in the first instance by a Benefactor at the time when it came on the market as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

ps determining a Strategy is no mean task as it ought to examine future liabilities (maintenance etc) , intangible benefits (volunteer accommodation and focusing staff accommodation together rather than spread across multiple sites), income generated (as visitor accommodation) and long term aspirations.