Nursery owners' heartbreak as building sold to rival bidder

Nicola Durkin and Carmel Murphy at West Derby Pre-School
-Credit:Liverpool Echo


The owners of a much-loved nursery school said they were "heartbroken" after learning the building the school is based in has been sold to a rival bidder. West Derby Pre-School is housed in Bonsall Hall, a building owned by the Archdiocese of Liverpool.

A Liverpool-based nursery operator reportedly lodged a "significantly higher" offer than that made by the current owners, Nicola Durkin and Carmel Murphy. This rival bid has been accepted by the Archdiocese, and although the new owners are said to have promised the hall will continue to be used as a nursery, the current owners of the school say they are worried for their future.

In November, the ECHO reported the hall had been put up for sale by the Archdiocese, which has leased the building to West Derby Pre-School for the past 35 years. Nicola and Carmel bought the business 16 years ago, but have worked there for more than 25 years.

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They employ 18 members of staff who take care of children aged between two and four, as well as providing breakfast club services and after-school care for school-aged children. Around 170 children use their services, and the building is also used for meetings of Scouts, Brownies and Beavers. In total, Nicola estimates around 300 families make use of Bonsall Hall every week.

Children at West Derby Pre-School
Children at West Derby Pre-School -Credit:Liverpool Echo

In November, the Archdiocese told the ECHO that the nursery owners would be "welcome to put in an offer for consideration." Having pulled together enough money to buy the building, they submitted an offer of £285,000 on December 20 last year.

Once the Christmas break was over and she hadn't heard back from the estate agent about her offer, Nicola's concerns began to mount. On January 17, she said the agent told her the Archdiocese had accepted someone else's offer on Bonsall Hall. Nicola told us she "felt sick" when he told her and "had to put the phone down".

Children at West Derby Pre-School
Children at West Derby Pre-School -Credit:Liverpool Echo

After consulting with Carmel, she called the estate agent back and upped the offer to £300,000. "We will do anything to save our nursery," said Nicola, "so we put in a higher offer." The women were confident it would be accepted.

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But yesterday Nicola and Carmel were told their new offer had been rejected. Nicola says felt "numb" following the news. She told us: "It was sold before we even knew. If someone put a higher offer in why didn't they tell us?"

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Liverpool said: “Following a review of Bonsall Hall last year, a decision was made to sell the building with the tenant in situ. We invited the nursery owners to put in an offer for consideration. We received several offers for the building which were all sealed bids so we were unaware of the offers until the deadline.

“After discussions with the parish priest and the parish council, we accepted an offer which was significantly higher than the other bids. The successful bidder is another nursery operator in the Liverpool area who has proposed to use the building as a nursery and will keep all staff.

“Throughout the whole process, our dedicated agents regularly communicated with the nursery owners. They were fully aware of the process and were on site when some of the viewings from third parties were taking place.

“The decision to sell Bonsall Hall is not one the archdiocese has taken lightly. Sadly, the building requires significant ongoing maintenance, repair and financial resources that the archdiocese is no longer able to sustain.”

Nicola Durkin and Carmel Murphy at West Derby Pre-School
Nicola Durkin and Carmel Murphy at West Derby Pre-School -Credit:Liverpool Echo

The identity of the new owners has not yet been disclosed. Nicola and Carmel were unaware the hall had been bought by a rival nursery operator until the ECHO broke the news to them earlier today.

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They have welcomed the news that a nursery will likely remain onsite and their staff's jobs will be saved. However, the women are naturally concerned for the future of their business, having spent so many years building a vital community resource.

Nicola said: "I'm heartbroken. We don't know what our future holds. The buyer says they are willing to work with the nursery, but I don't know what that means. What about me and Carmel? Our business is not for sale."

West Derby Pre-School is loved by many families in West Derby. When the ECHO visited Bonsall Hall in November, we spoke to a number of mums who only had good things to say about the way the nursery is run.

Michelle Passey, 47, who is the mum of four-year-old twin girls, told us: "It's such a lovely, lovely nursery. There's a real family feeling here and I don't know what I'd do without it...The kids absolutely love the staff and they're really attached to them. All the staff know all the kids and nothing's too much trouble. From day one we were made to feel welcome."