A MULTI-STOREY carpark behind Crewe's Royal Hotel carries a £1.65 million asking price - while the iconic hospitality establishment is to remain closed while it is sold.

The 243-space carpark, geared developers say to HS2 traffic, is to be built on land occupied by the former Box nightclub and music venue next to the famous old hotel, one of the first town landmarks travellers alighting from the rail station have seen for generations.

The Royal, with its red-brick façade and regarded locally as a listed building, is being sold as a going concern for £1.6m by its current owners, Property Capital, who have carried out £400,000 worth of refurbishments.

Manchester-based property advisers Lambert, Smith and Hampton are handling the freehold sale and its director Martin Davis says the the Royal was put up for sale before lockdown – but it has not reopened despite the easing of restrictions on July 4.

"Because of Covid-19 a lot of hotels are temporarily closed, but we are marketing the hotel as a going concern for the current owners," said Mr Davis.

"Our clients have done a lot of work and have refurbished the bedrooms and public areas and put in a new boiler system.

"They are not hoteliers themselves, but they plan to improve the site and bring the hotel up to date. They bought it in a very tired state and have put a lot of work into it.

"With HS2 coming it will be a good opportunity for someone taking it on."

Lambert, Smith and Hampton's brochure describes The Royal as independent full service hotel with multiple income streams from 36 letting bedrooms, a busy corner bar and function and event suite, Langrtry's.

The latter with a capacity of 300 took over the live music mantle of the Box when it closed and has also hosted weddings and functions.

The property firm states: "Other recent construction and development projects (at the hotel) have included the Corner Bar, Langtry's, as well as a newly-refurbished commercial catering kitchen, hotel reception area, resident's lounge and other public areas.

"Behind the scenes, additional infrastructure works have been carried out including the installation of new efficient mains and gas fired boilers.

"The hotel is ideally situated to take advantage of business resulting from the proposed high speed rail network (HS2) which is due to run through Crewe with an expected travel time to London of just 55 minutes."

There was opposition when Cheshire East Council granted planning consent to redevelop the land in November 2018 with late councillors Dorothy Flude and Brian Roberts branding the carpark's cladded rectangular construction a "carbuncle", saying it was out of keeping with the historic hotel.

Plans for a car wash on the western side of the building have since been dropped, but there will be parking space for 28 cycles on the ground floor.

Access for vehicles will be off Pedley Street and architectural designs show the ground floor of the car park will be a red brickwork-faced plinth while its upper levels are to be clad with "modernistic" perforated and translucent panels.

Just a two-minute walk from Crewe Station the six-tier carpark will provide "vital parking capacity", it is said.

The former nightclub and music venue along with other outbuildings have been levelled and the land enclosed by hoardings, but work on the carpark will not start until Property Capital secure a buyer.

Richard Lever, a land and planning director with the Knutsford company, said: "We bought the hotel two years ago and we were running it until Covid. Now the plan is to sell the hotel as a going concern and the carpark as a going opportunity.

"We are waiting for a developer - it is a fantastic spot, obviously, near the station entrance.

"There are no plans to reopen the hotel as we'd rather sell it to an operator who can do a grand launch."

In its heyday The Box sustained Crewe's live music scene hosting an eclectic mix of bands from traditional tribute acts to metal and punk.

There were regular Northern Soul nights and all-night rave discos. It was one of the bases for Crewe's former Volume Music Festival and up to its closure was the chosen venue for Kirk Brandon's Westworld Weekend.

But property agents, CBRE Ltd, state on rightmove: "These buildings were successively added to the rear of the hotel over the years and are of little architectural quality, particularly as these have been subject to extensive alteration."