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National Trust offers rare lease for café at 14th century former monastery in Coventry

A rare opportunity to run a National Trust café at a 14th century former monastery in Coventry is being marketed by Midlands commercial property agents Bromwich Hardy.

The Charterhouse Cafe is at the Grade I-listed former Charterhouse monastery, a heritage site of national importance located just outside the city centre.

National Trust offers rare lease for café at 14th century former monastery in Coventry

The site is surrounded by residential housing and linked to the city centre via the wider Heritage Park, which will eventually include walking and cycling routes.

Caine Gilchrist, a surveyor at Bromwich Hardy, explained that tenders were now being invited to operate the café lease for £24,000 a year, which included a fully fitted kitchen and café with outdoor seating, plus a 130-space car park onsite.

Mr Gilchrist said: “Bromwich Hardy is delighted to invite prospective tenants to tender for this rare opportunity to operate a leasehold café through the National Trust, which is working in partnership with the Historic Coventry Trust and the John Muir Trust.

“Charterhouse is brilliantly positioned with a free-to-access park and we are expecting the new café to open early 2025.

“The National Trust provides an incredible opportunity to connect people with the places it owns or cares for, creating lasting experiences and relationships.

“A great food experience plays an important role in this, and the National Trust is therefore looking to tender the café at Charterhouse to a like-minded business partner with flair and imagination.

“The café has 60 indoor and 30 outdoor covers and the 1,981 sq ft property comes fully equipped with all kitchen and dining areas fitted out.”

The Charterhouse site was founded in 1381 and includes the only surviving interiors from a medieval Carthusian monastery in the UK.

The main building survived the Dissolution and was converted into a private dwelling in the 1500s, passing through several hands in the following centuries, with notable inhabitants including Robert Dudley – a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I.

The walled garden comprises approximately 1.7-acres with a further 8-acres in the outer area, including a newly created wildlife pond and community orchard.

A further 8-acres to the west of the River Sherbourne includes the new car park and pedestrian approach drive, as well as a children’s play area and grassland park.

Charterhouse has undergone a £10m-plus restoration programme, which has included reconstructed chimneys and roof, restoration of 15th and 16th century wall paintings, a disabled lift, the conservatory and the new car park.

Charterhouse’s location makes is easily accessible to people living in Coventry, the second largest local authority in the West Midlands.

Coventry has experienced a high rate of population growth in recent years, particularly amongst 18 to 29-year-olds. It now has 345,000 residents, an increase of 28,000 since 2011.

Charterhouse is easily accessed by car and is highly visible with direct access from the A4114 London Road, the main route into the city from London and South Warwickshire that passes Jaguar Land Rover’s headquarters.

The entrance is just off the Coventry's inner ring road, less than 10 minutes walking distance of the city centre and the city's mainline train station.

Mr Gilchrist added: “Charterhouse’s excellent, all-weather car parking for 130 cars also has an overflow capacity in the disused former rugby pitch for an estimated extra 100 cars.”

The lease is to be processed via formal tender, with a submission deadline of midnight on 16 December 2024.

For more details, visit this link, and for tender documents and to arrange a viewing, please contact Caine Gilchrist at [email protected] or and Charlie Glover at [email protected].

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