Southend Nazareth House: Hotel chains eye up historic care home

Nazareth House, in London Road, Southend, has been placed on the market with estate agents Ayers and Cruiks.

The care home shut in February last year after running for 147 years.

Steve Ayers, 54, director at the estate agents, said there’s already been queries despite the home only being on the market a few days.

Hotel operators and developers have expressed an interest.

He said: “We were instructed by the owners Sisters of Nazareth to sell the care home.

“We placed it on the market and we’ve had expressions of interest from all types of firms.

“There’s already been a range of interest from developers, care home operators, hotel operators and interest from other sectors too.

“It could be a new development and we do not have any preconceived ideas about the future of the site.

“We’ve opened the market to everyone and it will be interesting to see what sort of interest comes forward.

“I think a lot of the interest will be development driven for this site.”

The closure was announced after a battle between the Nazareth Care Charitable Trust and Southend Council to have the building demolished and a new facility built in its place.

Those plans were ultimately refused in October 2018 by the council.

Nazareth House was established in Southend in 1873 as a home for the elderly and for “sickly or incurable” children.

Mr Ayers added: “A range of uses could work there including a comprehensive redevelopment for homes, or an extension of the existing retail park or keeping it a care home.

“We’re running a best offers campaign until May 21 and will be asking for offers and then we will consider the prices put forward.

“The most obvious buyer is probably going to be a developer firm.

“It’s a large site and I do not expect it to be on the market for a long time and we will be looking to have it all tied up by the end of the summer.”

The site has been used for Covid testing, with hundreds passing through each day.