The Ancient Unicorn is going under the hammer this month before the current owners move overseas.
The popular Bowes hotel has a guide price of £650,000 – down from the initial £800,000 asking price in August 2025.
Allsop property auction house is putting the venue in a live-streamed auction on November 20. The first lot of the day is due at 10am.
Once the auction is concluded, the new owners could complete the transaction within a month.
A spokesman for Allsop said: “Our completion period is typically 20 working days. The big advantage for a seller is immediate exchange at the fall of the hammer, so the transaction does not usually drag on.”
The Grade II-listed Ancient Unicorn combines a 14-room hotel, restaurant and village shop.
The venue’s wedding licence was recently renewed for the next five years, and there is land to the rear with planning permission for a ten-room extension to the hotel and three standalone dwellings.
The 400-year-old buildings are rich in history. It was an important coaching inn for travellers crossing the Pennines.
According to local folklore, there are claims that an earlier version of the inn was caught up in a siege led by Robert the Bruce in 1322.
It is also associated with a tragic Romeo and Juliet-style love story from 1713.
