Grade II-listed former top private school sold after being listed for £5 million

A former private school near York has been sold after it was put on the market last year with a £5 million price tag.

Queen Margaret’s School was closed on 5 July last year after 125 years as an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 10 to 19. It was set across 39 acres of landscaped grounds just six miles from York.

The site comprised a Grade II* Listed former country house and a variety of ancillary buildings, including classroom and dormitory blocks, with indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a sports hall and gymnasium, as well as squash and tennis courts.

The sale of the property was confirmed to The Independent by UK property consultancy Sanderson Weatherall, which was instructed to offer the sale of the freehold property last summer.

The property has been sold to Escrick Holdings Ltd, according to York Press. The private limited company was listed on Companies House on 9 March earlier this year. Based in Bradford, the company successfully changed its name in April from Escrick Park Estate Ltd. It is believed to specialise in property management and building development.

It remains unknown how much it was sold for or what it will become.

When Neil Bestwick, partner in Sanderson Weatherall’s asset advisory and recovery division, announced the company would be selling the Grade II* listed school, he said the company was looking at whether it could be resurrected for education-based use in its sale.

“We are pleased to be supporting the FRP team with the disposal of this important piece of real estate,” he said in August last year. “We are exploring the potential for a resurrected education-based use but also expect to see expressions of interest for alternative uses, including residential, leisure, and care, for which the property would be suited, subject, of course, to planning and other consents.”

The school was placed on the property market last year after succumbing to "mounting financial pressures", according to the BBC.

A statement on Queen Margaret School for Girls' website, which has since been shut down, reportedly said that Labour’s decision to introduce VAT on school fees had contributed to its closure, as well as “increased national insurance and pension contributions, the removal of charitable-status business rates relief, and rising costs for the upkeep and operation of our estate.”

While the school had looked to stay afloat by “proactively managing resources, introducing energetic new leadership, and expanding our marketing efforts”, they decided that pupil enrolment for last September was “below the viable level required to keep the school open beyond the current academic year.”