Cooden Beach Hotel under offer

The 40-bed Jarvis Cooden Beach Hotel was the subject of a sale rumour a year ago.

Recent heavy investment by its current owners, Jarvis Hotels Ltd., has included work on a wheelchair ramp and other measures to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.

David Timmis, operations director for Jarvis Hotels Ltd., told the Observer: "We have received an unsolicited offer for the Jarvis Cooden Beach Hotel.

"We are still considering the proposal put to us.

"In accordance with our company practice, we are keeping staff and management fully informed."

Under employment law, companies are obliged to inform staff when purchase offers are accepted. However, this does not mean that a deal will necessarily go through.

Beds a the Jarvis Cooden Beach are said to be heavily booked for June and functions bookings - principally weddings - are booked for two years ahead.

Worried staff say rumours about the intending purchaser range from someone intending to continue the Cooden Beach as a hotel to a Japanese businessman intent on converting it into luxury flats.

But the Observer understands that the purchase offer has come via an agent and that the company itself is not aware of the intending buyer's identity.

One long-serving member of staff said they had seen several changes of ownership - Shields Hotels, Tiffany, Resort Hotel and Jarvis - and that each new ownership had brought about improvements to the Cooden Beach. "If it was sold, it isn't going to happen this year; these things take a long time to go through."

No applications concerning the Jarvis Cooden Beach Hotel are currently shown on the Rother planning website.