Bucks restaurant with rooms changes hands

The lease on the White Hart Inn, a fine dining restaurant with rooms in the Buckinghamshire village of Chalfont St Giles, has been sold to experienced restaurateur and hotelier Salvatore Fernandez.

The village lies off the A413 between Amersham and Uxbridge on the edge of Chiltern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The property has 11 en-suite letting bedrooms and four-bedroom accommodation for staff.

It can seat 150 customers across the bar, restaurant and conservatory and another 100 in the trade garden outside. Part of the restaurant can be closed off for private dining or meetings for up to 40 guests.

The vendor, chef-proprietor Scott MacRae, was a former premier sous chef at the Dorchester hotel and executive head chef on luxury liners.

New owner Salvatore Fernandez has clocked up 37 years experience in hotels and restaurants. In 2006 he converted the Jasmine Oriental fine dining restaurant in Bray, Berkshire into the Italian/Mediterranean-focused Slice before moving into hotel and restaurant consultancy

The Milton Keynes office of Christie + Co sold the Greene King lease (which has 15 years remaining) off a guide price of £400,000. Annual rent is currently £140,000. Sister company Christie Finance secured the funding for the purchase.

By Angela Frewin