Partner Article

Award-winning Once Upon a Tyne up for sale

Two friends behind a guest house which offers visitors the chance to do outdoor sports have put their award-winning business up for sale.

Victoria Siddoway and Paul Taylor have put Once Upon a Tyne, a nine-bedroomed Georgian town house in South Shields from where guests can sample a range of coastal sports on the market, as they plan to develop other career opportunities.

Once Upon a Tyne, which opened in Spring 2005, won bronze at the 2006 North East England Tourism Awards after Paul and Victoria declared the guesthouse “Passionate about Outdoor Sports” and began offering visitors a range of activities, including canoeing and kayaking, mountain biking, rock climbing, scuba diving and surfing, and even power-kiting and skydiving.

Paul, 27, said “When we opened Once Upon a Tyne, we were determined that we would offer guests something different,“Recently, a stag party stayed with us and we arranged for them to go power-kiting on the Saturday and then, on the Sunday, to cycle alongside the River Tyne from Newcastle back to the coast.”

He and Victoria, 31, launched Once Upon a Tyne after working together for a number of years and have been running the guest house while pursuing their full-time careers.

The four-storey guest house is located on Beach Road, in the heart of South Shields, about a five-minute walk from South Shields’ beaches. As well as nine bedrooms, it has a kitchen, guest lounge, pool table, cable TV and Internet facilities, a Jacuzzi Room and on-site secure parking.

“Once Upon a Tyne is all about a healthy lifestyle. We don’t do cooked breakfasts, but guests wake up to a healthy Continental-style breakfast and that has proved very popular,” added Paul. “While outdoor sports put us on the map, they account for only ten per cent of our income. For the most part, rooms are occupied by contractors, families, holiday-makers and group bookings. We host visiting international archaeological parties on behalf of Tyne and Wear Museums- and we’re filled to the rafters every Great North Run.

“Once Upon a Tyne has grown rapidly without the need to allocate any financial resources to advertising and promotion. If any buyer puts in half-as-much commitment again, it could be a phenomenal success.”

For more information about Once-upon-a-Tyne, contact Jonathan Ward, at Lakey & Co, on 0845 299 0158.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .