Barbados TravelAdvisor

The developers these days are not prepared to sit around and wait for money to hopefully trickle in from a small hotel, JTD. They want their money up front - and to hell with what happens after that - is the attitude these days. Battaleys Mews across the way from KBH was supposedly to be a condo project operating as a hotel and so far that has such a miserable failure that some of 30 or so people who forked over the 800K to 1M to buy one are now lining up to demand their money back. Far from becoming the luxury hotel they advertised attracting the rich and the beautiful from overseas, Battaleys Mews has been reduced to letting the condos out at firesale rates to Bajans for weekend rum parties. St. Peter's Bay should take notes.

As far as I know, Kings Beach Villas are still being operated as separate entities (multiple owners involved) from the old hotel. At least, guests can still be seen coming and going although not in the numbers of the heyday of the hotel. The dust is still unsettled (both literally and figuratively) in the area on the whole KBH, KBV, SPB-Sandridge affair, and, as usual, locals are being pointedly kept in the dark.

KNRX, How much is Leamington affected? I've always thought that it is such a beautiful property and I once met one of the previous owners who had clearly loved it so much.

Leamington is being affected by the noise, dust and everything else that's problematic when you have a large construction project next door. I had a chat with the owners when they were on the island last month (on one of their daily beach walks) and they confirmed that they have lost business as a result. On the upside (and I must add that they, the owners, did not think it was much as a blessing as they like long beach walks past Mullins and Gibbes and now have to gingerly negotiate devastated stretches of beach) the groynes have restored a sandy stretch of beach in front of Leamington which was completely destroyed when the first jetty/groyne was built on Leamington's northern boundary back in either the late sixties or early seventies.

JTD, it still looks like they are keeping most of the trees between Leamington and the old Sandridge Hotel so that should help although I don't know how tall the block they are constructing on the old Sandridge site will rise. We know the lot is narrow and they are supposedly building five 20K sq ft condos.

John, Kings Beach Village is an excellent place to stay in my opinion and I would happily recommend it to anyone who is looking for a quiet peaceful holiday. The villas are very pretty and have lovely tasteful and well kept interiors, most of them are very spacious although the 1 bedroom villas are quite a bit smaller than the others (we have stayed in many different ones over the years) all come with nice patios or balconies and most have both.The grounds are wonderful and beautifuly maintained..a real credit to them, there is a good sized, clean and attractive swimming pool with a bar where you can buy a quick snack and the staff are really helpful and friendly. There never seems to be many guests whenever we have stayed and it feels as though you have the place almost to yourself which is perfect if you like the quiet life as we do but would not suit anyone looking for more of a social scene. There is no entertainment provided now as there was at the hotel...I do miss that element. The villas were put on the market and we would have considered buying but they were in our opinion overpriced, this appears to be correct as not that many have sold, the idea was that you could by a villa and they would manage your lettings for you. Martin Richards... the not so friendly owner... continues to raise the rental rates despite the economic climate and refuses to do a deal even for regulars,this probably explains their low occupancy rates !!! However it is still possible to rent villas from those who have bought and rent them out privatly at much more sensible rates and a quick search of the internet usually turns up a few results.

Oops, I may have spoken too fast on the Kings Beach sale. I just learned today from a more reliable source that - yes, the primary developer of St. Peter's Bay did put in a bid for $14M but "the bank was instructed" to reject it. Oh well, the saga continues...

Good news for the moment then Franikie !

That means we still have a chance to pool our resources and buy it...

Is it worth buying - as i don't want to waste my lotto winnings

Given all the mystery that went with the Sandridge sale and all the lies about the parking lot, my guess is that Kings Beach is already sold to SPB but they, for reasons known probably only to them, do not want it noised about yet.

St Peter’s Bay (remember the groynes) & Church get blistered in comments over Road View scandal – http://shar.es/PMpU – #Barbados

Save Mullins Bay