The Sark Estate – now owned by Alistair Barclay, the youngest son of the late Sir David Barclay – includes the Dixcart Hotel and La Moinerie Village and two luxury cottages, none of which can currently be booked for the coming summer season.
The Guernsey Press made repeated attempts to contact the Sark Estate both by email and phone to clarify if any of the establishments would be opening this year, but did not receive a response.
A spokesman for the island’s Tourism Committee said it understood that the Dixcart Hotel was under new management and would be opening shortly for the season, while La Moinerie was currently being marketed to secure a new operator.
‘Both properties are privately-owned and any questions regarding their operation or future plans should be directed to the owners or operators,’ he said.
La Moinerie is listed as up for sale on the website of Sark Estate Agents, which is also owned by the Barclay family.
The listing states it ‘represents a rare chance to take on a beautifully restored hospitality operation in one of the Channel Islands’ most captivating destinations’.
The finances of the Barclay family and their impact on Sark was the subject of an article in the Sunday Telegraph last weekend.
It stated that Deutsche Bank was pursuing Alistair Barclay in the courts for unpaid debts of more than £10m., with HSBC seeking repayment of greater sums from Sir David’s two other sons, Aidan and Howard.
The Barclay family has been forced to give up control of a number of businesses in recent years, including, online retailer Very, The Ritz Hotel in London and delivery company Yodel, as well as losing control of the Telegraph newspaper, after it struggled to repay substantial loans.
It has been suggested that the family could now look to raise capital by selling further assets, including those on Sark. The Telegraph mentioning rumours that even Brecqhou could be up for sale.
In the early 1990s Sir Frederick and the late Sir David Barclay spent an estimated £60m. building a castle on the island of Brecqhou, as well as investing heavily in Sark.
Both the Dixcart Hotel and La Moinerie Village, as well as other businesses in the Sark Estate, were shut for over five years after twins Sir Frederick and the late Sir David Barclay fell out with Sark’s government in 2015.
The Sark Estate comprises 20% of the island’s surface area, and includes the aforementioned hotels, as well as a number of other properties many of which are empty and derelict.
The estate was widely reported to be for sale in 2024 through estate agents Knight Frank and was subject to an unsuccessful bid last year, believed to be in the region of £25m., from the Sark Property Company, which included Sark Seigneur Christopher Beaumont among its directors.
Mr Beaumont, who was interviewed for the Telegraph article, thought it had been relatively sympathetic to Sark’s position.
‘Sark is not thriving and if we want it to thrive it needs major investment,’ he said.
He said the sale of the Barclays estate, whether he was involved or not, was what the island needed.
‘It is not just the tax that would come from the sale, although that would be very welcome,’ he said. ‘It is if that offer of purchase came with investment. I don’t care where that investment comes from, as long as it is sympathetic to the community of Sark, which our bid was. We did not want to be Barclays version two.’
He added that the door was still open on an investment from the Sark Property Company.
‘We are still here though it seems at the moment Alistair Barclay does not want to sell, but things might change.’