Fierce bidding from 23 different bidders drove up the price
The bar and seating area inside The Riverway pub in The Meadows(Image: BTG Eddisons Property Auctions)
A former Nottingham pub, that closed down seven years ago, has been sold at auction for more than three times the guide price.
The Riverway, in Arkwright Way, in The Meadows, was boarded up in April 2019, just two years after Yorkshire-based Samuel Smith’s Brewery reopened the pub following a prolonged closure.
The post-war pub went to auction with a guide price of £150,000. Beforehand auctioneers at BTG Eddisons Property Auctions said the plot of land, just under half an acre and a short distance from Nottingham city centre, would appeal to housing developers.
Twenty three registered bidders fought fiercely to buy the property with 69 bids in all before the hammer fell at £565,000.
The buyer, a developer, does not wish to provide details of their plans for the property until the deal completes next month.
Ahead of the auction, those familiar with the pub said they would back any sale that meant the graffiti-covered building was no longer a blot on the landscape. And none of those interviewed by the Nottingham Post were adverse to new homes being built.
Mia Humphreys, 23, said her grandparents were regular customers at The Riverway before it closed but added: “It’s been desolate for so long, I think any change at all is better than leaving it sitting there empty.
“I imagine that there are some local residents who have fond memories of The Riverway, who might want it to be reopened as a pub, but there are other pubs around which are nice,” she added.
Local John Thompson agreed that the area was well catered for in terms of pubs and backed potential housing plans.
“The hospitality trade is dying anyway, I don’t think there’s a need for another pub, especially when there’s places like Poets Corner and The Embankment nearby,” the 52-year-old said.
“It’s a waste of space and I’m all for it to be turned into houses,” Mr Thompson added, explaining that while The Meadows had a reputation as a “rough area” in the 90s, he did not see any problem with living there now.
The pub used to be a Shipstone’s tied house. It survived the 1970s demolition work in The Meadows when 22 pubs were lost.
It had two rooms, including one with a pool table, and was very much a locals’ pub except when Forest or Notts County fans drank there on match days.
