Warren Collection snaps up Belfast guesthouse for £1.2m

The company behind the Number 11 boutique hotel on Belfast’s Malone Road and The Quarter budget rooms development in the city’s Cathedral Quarter has acquired a third Belfast property.

Burgeoning accommodation firm the Warren Collection snapped up 17-bedroom guesthouse The Gregory on Eglantine Avenue for £1.2m.

Director David Warren said: “I’m delighted to be opening our newest property. We see great opportunity for further growth in both the corporate and leisure markets for travellers in Belfast who want safe, accessible, luxury, accommodation at an affordable price.

“Belfast is a great city with a real buzz and an excellent reputation and attitude to doing business.”

The Gregory had been run as a guesthouse by husband and wife Jim and Alison Ferrin. Mrs Ferrin’s family, the Gregorys, are described on the guesthouse’s website as “a prominent business family in Belfast since 1900”.

Last year the Warren Collection opened its first boutique accommodation in Belfast, The Number 11 on Malone Road and in April it opened The Quarter at 70 to 74 Donegall Street next to St Anne’s Cathedral.

What was student accommodation next to Ulster University’s has now been revamped as “minimalist” and “quirky” low cost accommodation with rooms available from just £45 per night .

Mark Royal House, a former office building  on Donegall Street, had been converted into a 45-bedroom student scheme in 2015 in anticipation of Ulster University’s relocation to its new York Street campus.

Company directors, David Warren and Mark Docherty are also looking at sites in Manchester, Edinburgh and Portugal with plans to open 250 rooms by the end of 2023.