Royal Hotel in Hayfield slashed from £850,000 to £575,000 and campaigners submit expression of interest

The empty hotel was on the market for £850,000 but a new valuation has marketed the business at £575,000.

This, the campaign action group Save the Royal say, is a ‘significant’ development and should improve the prospects of the Royal Hotel being reopened as a pub or hotel in the foreseeable future.

A spokesperson for SRG says that although it could still be regarded as an asking price in excess of its value, this is an important step in the right direction.

They said: “Whether our campaigning has contributed to this decision by the owners, we will probably never know, but we are very grateful for this positive decision on their behalf.

“We believe now that experienced pub or hotel owners or companies are much more likely to assess the Royal with a view to restoring it to its former status.”

Soon after the pub and hotel closed in March 2023, a community group was formed

to campaign for its restoration to its former status as the focal point of the village and a visitor attraction.

The action group, registered formally with Companies House as Hayfield Community Society Ltd, paid £2000 for a specialist professional valuation of the Royal in August 2024.

This valued the Royal at £445,000, and since then, it has been damaged by a dramatic water leak in August 2025 and has suffered further general deterioration over two more winters.

The price reduction was formally announced in early February by newly appointed specialist agents, the Caldecotte Group.

The first thing that SRG did back in 2023 was to press for the Royal to be listed as an asset of community value (ACV).

This was achieved in 2023, with Hayfield Parish Council making the formal application to the local planning authority, High Peak Borough Council (HPBC).

That listing will last for five years, until 2028.

This ACV registration resulted in a six month moratorium period finishing in November 2024, when the building could not be sold to anyone other than a properly registered

community group.

Hayfield Community Society Limited put in an Expression of Interest, which triggered that moratorium, but did not submit a formal bid to purchase.

Under ACV rules, there was then a protected period of 12 months up to late 2025 when the owners could have sold freely on the open market.

During that time the asking price remained at £850,000 and no bids were accepted.

In order to continue marketing the property after that 12-month protected period, the owners were required under ACV regulations to issue a formal notice to dispose to HPBC, which they did in January.

This then triggered the opportunity for SRG to again put in an Expression of Interest, which will result in another six-month moratorium on selling to anyone other than a community group, which will last until July.

The announcement by the new agents of the reduced asking price of £575,000 was made a couple of weeks later.

The campaigners said they had a ‘long discussion’ about whether to submit an expression of interest.

Although they are formally constituted to be able to launch a community shares scheme to raise money to purchase the Royal, it is still, they say, a massive undertaking for a community group who are not hospitality professionals.

SRG say they would prefer that an appropriately experienced and resourced commercial buyer should take on the Royal.

The group took the decision to submit the expression of interest in order to confirm the strong community interest in the Royal being reopened and not being allowed to deteriorate, and to reduce the long term risk of the owners seeking to redevelop the building or site for other purposes.

SRG say they will make it clear to any suitable prospective purchasers that they will not stand in their way or compete with them.

The next move for SRG is to organise a public meeting which will be on Monday, March16 in St Matthews Church, Hayfield, where the first public meeting was held nearly three years ago.

The SRG spokesperson said: “The purpose will be to explain these recent developments; to assess whether there is still community support for reopening the Royal and whether there is support for that being done by a community group if commercial buyers do not emerge; and if there is such support, are there any additional individuals, especially with experience of hospitality management or community funding, who would be willing to join SRG and help to make the project happen.”

The Royal is a listed building in the centre of the village and its conservation area, and is at the heart of the Hayfeild community.

It has the only function room in the village, and for generations has been used for wedding receptions and funeral gatherings, as well as live music, community meetings and private parties.

SRG believe that the Royal could be even more than it was - the function room could be used for a wide range of new daytime activities, and if the bar area also functioned as a café, the footfall and turnover could be greatly increased on weekdays and in the winter months.

And finally, part of the pub could accommodate information about the village, local history, including the story of the 1932 Mass Trespass, and displays such as artwork produced by local artists.

This, they say, would make the Royal like a visitor centre, and as such would attract many more visitors.

Neil added: “And another boost to financial viability is that the disused outbuilding could be converted into further visitor bedrooms, and could include wheelchair or disability access features which are in short supply for meeting the needs of visitors to the Peak District.”