MINEHEAD’S historic town hall looks set to be sold for just under £306,000 after a sealed bid process delivered an offer almost £55,000 higher than previously received.

Minehead Town Council put the Grade Two listed property in The Parade on the market in July after being faced with the prospect of spending around £500,000 to carry out essential repairs and improvements, including making it accessible to disabled people.

An offer of £251,000 was provisionally accepted in September but had to be advertised through a public notice in local newspapers, with a ten-day deadline imposed to see if a higher bid came in.

Town councillors were told this week that four sealed bids were opened on Monday, with an offer of £305,677 from Williton-based property company Storm Land Securities Ltd topping the bill.

And at their monthly meeting on Tuesday, councillors heard that the offer had been verbally accepted.

Mayor Cllr Jean Parbrook said: “I think we have done extraordinarily well.

“It is a very good result – personally, I never dreamed we would get as much as that.”

Cllr Parbrook said the council now had to find a new base for its operations and an advisory group made up of the council’s committee chairmen had been set up to look at possible locations, including the empty former visitor information centre on the seafront which councillors were due to visit yesterday (Thursday).

Full story in the Free Press.