THE Wallace family, who own Pettycur Bay Holiday Park and the four star Bay Hotel in Fife, have bought the Old Manor Hotel in Lundin Links, which had been on the market with a guide price of £1.2 million.

They plan to put a “fresh stamp” on the 19th-century property, which overlooks Lundin Links golf course and became a hotel in 1994.

The Old Manor Hotel has been owned for the last 11 years by Alistair Saddler, who has built up the business to become one of the area’s leading hotels, highly rated on various review websites.

The 23-bedroom, four-star property, which offers over the Firth of Forth and Largo Bay, includes the Sea View Restaurant, a cocktail bar and a lounge.

The new owner has flagged potential to use the former restaurant lodge building in the Old Manor Hotel's car park as a fine-dining restaurant, a bistro, or for weddings and events, with a final choice not having been made yet.

It has a self-contained meeting and conference area, which can cater for up to 120 guests, situated to the side of the main hotel.

The hotel is close to the World Heritage East Neuk villages, and to St Andrews, which will host next year’s Open Championship.

Steven Wallace, one of the directors of Pettycur Bay Holiday Park and the Bay Hotel said: "We're pleased and delighted to announce that we are the new owners of the Old Manor Hotel, with big plans to modernise and update the property with a full refurbishment programme kicking off straight away.”

He added: “We want to reopen in the new year, ready to make the most of the spring-summer staycation season which is particularly relevant this year with The Open taking place in St Andrews later in the summer."

Steven Wallace is the the grandson of Thomas Wallace, who purchased Pettycur Bay Holiday Park jointly with his two sons, Alan and Tommy, more than 30 years ago.

Flagging recruitment plans, Steven Wallace said: “We’re looking for new staff straight away which we hope to recruit locally, as is the case with our other businesses.

“We’ve always been a big local employer, and plan to build a strong close-knit team here at the Old Manor, covering reception to front of house, to housekeeping, chefs and kitchen staff.  We hope that local people in the area who are keen on a career in hospitality will want to join us in breathing new life into the Old Manor, which is a beautiful building with huge potential. We aim to make it the go-to place in Lundin Links for weddings, events, golfing breaks, and eating out.”

He added: “We think this is the best, most positive news we can give our sector – and the local economy here in Lundin Links, which massively relies on tourism - as the country continues to wrestle with the pandemic. The hospitality sector is hugely important, and doing hospitality well is a source of great pride to many family businesses like ourselves.”

The hotel sale was concluded by commercial real estate specialist Colliers.

Robert Smithson, associate director in Colliers' hotels team, said: “I am pleased to have sold the hotel on behalf of the Saddlers to a local buyer who will continue to invest in the business as part of their growing leisure portfolio in the area.”