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Opportunity to purchase an internationally established and reputable stoneware pottery business with a total internal floor area of approximately 723 m2
Excellent trading location on the popular North Coast 500 route with great signage
Year-round trade generates a strong net profit
Includes extensive retail areas
Superb production facilities and spacious external grounds offer business expansion potential
Freehold
The Tain Pottery is located just outside of the town of Tain on the busy A9 trunk road, which links Inverness with Thurso and the Orkney Ferry. Tain railway station is on the Far North Line, linking Thurso and Wick with Inverness. Tain has a wide range of amenities, including shops, supermarkets, medical facilities, schools, and recreational facilities. The pottery benefits from having a VisitScotland sign posted on the A9 and about 200 meters away.
Tain as a general location is certainly popular for walkers and field sportsmen, with an abundance of local wildlife and trout and salmon fishing opportunities. Golf is another popular activity in the area, with a championship-standard course in Tain plus the famous Championship Course of Royal Dornoch, which is only a short drive away. For tourists, Tain was granted its first royal charter in 1066, making it Scotland's oldest Royal Burgh.
Tain is well placed to explore a range of castles and distilleries, and indeed, it is a good base from which to make a day trip to Loch Ness and visit the Highland Capital itself. To the north lies Golspie, the home of the most northern UK outdoor karting track. It has a great reputation, with some junior drivers making it onto the big stage of Formula 1. The locale is well-known for its lovely golden sandy beaches, especially at Dornoch and Portmahomack, both within a short drive. Inverness, the Capital of the Highlands, is approximately 35 miles away, accessed by an easy commute, and offers extensive shopping, leisure, and entertainment facilities, along with excellent road, rail, and air links to the south and beyond.
DESCRIPTION
The Tain Pottery operates from an impressive property set in a beautiful location around a mile south of Tain. Benefiting from great signage, The Tain Pottery is ideally located on the North Coast 500 route. The building dates back to the early 1800’s. Classified as an agricultural vernacular building, containing a grist mill and a byre. The vendors sensitively developed the building in 1996 when they purchased it, restoring the first floor of the central section and attic storage areas over the middle and west wings.
The sale includes a diverse range of areas, including a shop, manufacturing facility, decorating, packaging and dispatch area, and an office to the rear. The floor area extends to around 723 m2. The business is sold with all equipment, fixtures and fittings as seen.
BUSINESS OPERATION
The Tain Pottery has been trading since 1996 as a partnership. A sustainable business benefits from a great reputation across Scotland and beyond. This exciting business opportunity is one of Scotland’s largest ceramic manufacturers, manufacturing a number of internally generated designs, which are all included in the sale.
A number of diverse methods and techniques are used in production of the stoneware, from hand-built and thrown to jiggered and jollied to extruded and pressed. The production area is highly effective, being split into different functions. The north-east wing houses the clay processing, along with a number of jigger and jolly machines, a ram press and a number of kilns. Full details of equipment and machinery is available. The ground floor of the connecting building to the other two wings is used as the throwing area and for glazing and dispatch wrapping. The first floor is used for decorating and mold-making. Throughout the building, there are portable pottery storage racks that are used when the pottery is transported. The workshops are well equipped, facilitating the production of a wide range of bespoke items.
The business sends their products throughout the UK and has sent their products all over the world. The Tain Pottery operates with a small team of skilled staff. It generates a sound level of income and produces a good adjusted net profit. The business has tremendous potential to increase its turnover above its current level. The business has a professional website (https://tainpottery.co.uk/), which gives an indication of the work undertaken. Since COVID the business has been trading at a restricted level due to the personal circumstances of the current owners, allowing the new owners the scope to expand the trade.
THE PROPERTY
The original subjects are of stone construction under slate roofing and date from the early 1800s, possibly earlier. Accommodation is mostly arranged on the ground floor, with first-floor decorating areas and attic storage over the central wing storage area. Public entry is into the retail element of the business on the south-west wing. The hard standing extends to the rear of the south-west wing to allow deliveries and product dispatch. Each of the different pottery production methods used on site have dedicated areas within the building. The building has been maintained since ownership in the mid-1990s, with significant sections of the roof being replaced during this time. The power distribution has been rewired from the main boards located in the throwing section of the building, providing separate distribution boards in each of the functional areas.
To the rear of the north-east wing are the office and W.C. Above this, there is storage; materials being placed using the forklift. There is an LPG tank at the rear of the building. There are also extensive grounds to the rear, offering storage and parking The property is clearly signed from the main A9 trunk route.
OWNERS ACCOMMODATION
There is no owner’s accommodation with this property.
GROUNDS
Grounds include off-road parking and access for large vehicles. They are mostly laid to hard finishes suitable for the parking, with flower and shrub beds around the perimeter of the parking. Between the shop wing and the store, the grass quadrangle is being developed as a wild meadow. The other quadrangle has been left with hard finishes and could be developed.
SERVICES
The property is served by a three-phase mains electricity, water and septic tank drainage system. The effluent water is treated through a septic tank and then a biological purification system. This system is shared with a domestic property which is currently owned by one of the Sellers.
The current owners wish to retire and, therefore, have consequently placed The Tain Pottery on the market.
