Popular Wetherspoons pub set to be sold for £450,000

The Rhinoceros pub on Bridgegate in Rotherham town centre is to be auctioned as an investment opportunity this month.

The pub is let on a seven-year lease running until 2026, at a rent of £104,000 a year. It was one of 16 pubs put up for sale by Wetherspoons in 2019.

Known locally as ‘Rhinos’, the Rhinoceros is currently being extended into the neighbouring property at 33a Bridgegate, which is also included in the sale. The redevelopment is set to double the size of the pub to almost 10,000 sq ft.

The pub is named after the Rhinoceros Vase, which was made in 1826 at the nearby Rockingham Pottery Works. At the time of its production, the 1.15m high vase was the largest piece of porcelain to have been fired in one piece anywhere in the world.

It will be auctioned by Pugh and associate director Paul Parker said: “This is a rare opportunity to acquire a thriving and growing pub in the heart of Rotherham town centre.

“As well as the current extension project, there is also the potential, subject to gaining the necessary planning consent, to redevelop the Rhinoceros’s vacant 14,000 sq ft upper floor as residential accommodation.”

Bidding on the Rhinoceros, and the other lots in Pugh’s online auction, opens on September 21 and closes the following day. To view the full catalogue, go to www.pugh-auctions.com

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Pugh has sold lots totalling more than £70m at its auctions, held on the firm’s online platform.