Village at Lyons goes sale agreed at €6m

The 16-acre Village at Lyons wedding venue and cookery school in Celbridge, Co Kildare, has gone sale agreed with a unidentified buyer.

The venue forms part of the vast Lyons Demense, which was restored to its former glory by the late Irish entrepreneur and Ryanair founder Tony Ryan, who purchased the property in 1996.

This commercial arm of the estate, which has been wholly owned by his son Declan Ryan since mid-2014, was placed on the market last year with estate agent Colliers International seeking in excess of €6 million.

It is not clear if the buyer is Irish or from overseas but it is believed due diligence is under way with contracts yet to be signed. It is understood the asking price has been met.

Philip Rock, general manager of the village, confirmed that a sale has been agreed with a potential buyer but declined to provide any details.

“We should have further information on this in the next number of weeks,” Mr Rock told The Irish Times on Thursday, adding he was “confident” the business would continue as a going concern.

Recently filed abridged accounts for Village at Lyons Ltd show it had accumulated losses of €8.2 million at the end of 2014, a year in which the company made a net loss of €353,047.

It had 44 employees with total staff costs amounting to just less than €1.1 million.

Mr Ryan was owed €3.5 million by the company, while the Ryan family was owed €3.1 million.

A note to the accounts states that Mr Ryan had agreed not to seek repayment of any funds due to him for at least 12 months, which would have been the end of December 2015.

Mr Rock said the business was now trading profitably but declined to provide any financial details.

“It’s been trading very well since 2012,” he said.

The village comprises four shops and three apartments, a cafe, separate cookery school, the main function room with a capacity for 180 guests, the feature Lyons bar and the La Serre restaurant and oyster bar, which can hold 100 people.

There is a hotel element to the village and a number of houses on the grounds. In 2014, 112 weddings were held there, according to the sale brochure.