A FORMER popular Romsey hotel is set to have new owners within the next few weeks.

The Abbey Hotel, Church Street has been closed for five years and has had a Savills "for sale" outside the building since July 2019.

Now, Savills has updated their website and the status of the hotel from "for sale" to "under offer".

The asking price for The Abbey Hotel is £1.6 million and it is opposite Romsey Abbey.

Kevin Marsh, head of licensed leisure at Savills, said: "The hotel is under offer, we are going through some historic title issues we need to iron out. "I hope we will be in a position where everything is exchanged and competed fairly soon.

"By fairly soon, I would hope for it to be completed within the next two to three weeks."

Mark Edgerley, Romsey Town Centre Manager said: "Given the importance of the Abbey Hotel property to the Romsey Town Centre street scene, sitting as it does in the important area by King John’s House and in sight of the Abbey, it is really good to hear direct from the agents handling the sale that they are confident an agreement with new owners will be in place before Christmas.

"We look forward to seeing the plans the new owner has for the property."

This comes as Dorothy Baverstock, who represents Romsey Cupernham on the borough council, said: "It is quite a crucial space in Romsey because it used to be a bed and breakfast which was not as expensive as The White Horse Hotel.

"It could be turned into a really nice hotel which would help us with our residents who want to have a drink, or people who come to Romsey and will have somewhere to stay.

"The Abbey Hotel used to have a big room where people would have dinners and I would hate to think it would be turned into flats."

She added: "It needs to be developed in keeping with the area, as that is the historical part of town next to King John's House and Romsey Abbey."

As previously reported in the Romsey Advertiser, the hotel had been closed for “five years”, according to town centre manager Mark Edgerley.

The pub was set to reopen in 2015 under the management of Paul and Sarah Bingham who managed The White Horse in the Market Place.

However, despite Mr Bingham previously claiming they had a “refurbishment scheme in excess of £500,000” and that they were intending to “trade it as part of the White Horse Hotel and rebrand it as the Abbey Inn” the hotel never re-opened.