A LONG-STANDING Uppermill restaurant is up for sale and once again seeking new proprietors.
Riverside Bar and Grill, formerly Rioja, on the High Street is being marketed with a £74,950 lease.
The sales literature confirms a turnover of £364,000 per annum, including yearly rent of £25,220 and weekly wet sales of £6,500. A four-year lease was granted in February 2021.
The Riverside Bar and Grill remains open for business despite any future sale.
Originally known as Charlottes Coffee House, the business has had a number of owners in recent years.
Riverside has an indoor seating capacity for approximately 70. There is additional al fresco seating for another 70 plus four distinctive pods with seating for another 26.
Agents Harvey Silver Hodgkinson state: “This well-established business has been owned by our client since February 2021 and is only for sale today due to our client moving from area.
“The business achieves its current level of turnover whilst offering a fantastic opportunity for an enthusiastic owner operator to increase the takings, by way of, for example, introducing a food menu which has not been offered since opening and extending the current opening hours.
“The Riverside Bar & Grill is superbly located on a busy main road, running through the heart of the picturesque village centre and beside the River Tame.
“Surrounded by numerous bars, cafes, tea rooms, pubs, a residential area and facing a public park.
“The village is popular with tourists and walkers, with the premises benefiting from high levels of passing trade.”
Hmmm, there is more to the sale than the owner moving from the area. If it was a great business you would get a manager in place. So many owners over a short period points to other issues.
The sums aren’t great. If that’s the gross wet sales then that’s nearly the same amount as the annual turnover (so why bother with food and not just focus on drink?). The rent is prohibitively expensive without factoring in the running costs. I’d suspect it wasn’t making any profit. And the amount of potential covers, would need significant staffing and the costs that would incur.
The layout inside is difficult, for visibility, accessibility and toilets. Whoever owns it next might be better off considering an interior redesign and repurpose.
Bridge House as it was known was pub in the late 1800′.
It remained a family residence until the 1980’s when thr
Walkers moved in , and the noted horologist Eric Watson
lived across the river from it ,and the Warburtons had the
Post Office,pray tell me when and why it had it’ name change
Another loss to Uppermill history, and during the second
world war the iron railings from atop tje bridge on both sides
were removed for the war effort