What should I check before buying a country inn?

A country inn is not quite a bed and breakfast and not quite a hotel. It usually puts guest rooms, a dining room or pub, and the owner’s home under one roof. That makes it two or three businesses sharing one building and one set of staff. Before you buy, read each part separately, then ask how they hold each other up.

Read the rooms and the kitchen separately

Ask the seller for statements that split room income from food and drink income, with their own costs beside each. A combined profit line hides which side is healthy. Some inns fill the dining room because guests stay over. Others fill the rooms because the restaurant has a name. Knowing which way it runs tells you what you must protect after the sale.

Ask who runs each operation

Two operations need two sets of skills: housekeeping and bookings on one side, kitchen and service on the other. Find out who the chef and the front-of-house lead are, how long they have been there, and what the owner personally does each week. If the owner is the cook, the host and the night manager, you are buying their labour as well as the building.

Look at the owner’s quarters

Many inns include living space for the owner. Ask how it is laid out, whether it can be closed off from guests, and whether you would live there or rent it as a room or a staff suite. If you plan to live elsewhere, the inn needs a manager, and that cost belongs in your plan. Your accountant can say how the living space is treated in the books.

Send the licence questions to your lawyer

A dining room or pub often depends on permits that may not pass to a buyer automatically. Ask your lawyer which approvals the inn holds and whether they can transfer to you. Compare the buying steps with what a hotel buyer reviews.

• Separate statements for rooms, food and drink, and any events.
• Names and tenure of the key kitchen and housekeeping staff.
• A floor plan showing guest space and living space.
• A list of permits the inn holds, for your lawyer to review.