Popular Halifax town centre bar and restaurant up for sale

Alibi - at Somerset House in Rawson Street - is being marketed by Ernest Wilson and Co Limited on Rightmove for £350,000.

The building includes the main bars and lounge areas, restaurant, a first floor banqueting suite and terrace bar.

Alibi opened in 2019 as an "upscale drinks and dining establishment" following an extensive £450,000 refurbishment of Somerset House.

The iconic building has had many previous incarnations, including a bank and a wedding venue. Until 2018, it housed Le Metro restaurant.

According to Alibi's website Somerset House, originally known as Royds' House, was built in 1766 for John Royds - a prosperous local woollen merchant with interests in transport, banking and insurance.

The house was designed by John Carr of York, who was also responsible for Harewood House, Leeds.

The Grand Salon was decorated with fine rococo plasterwork by Guiseppe Cortese, which is reputed to have taken ten years to complete.

In 1768, shortly after its construction, the house provided overnight accommodation for King Christian VII of Denmark who was touring northern England.

In 1807, William and John Rawson bought the house to use as banking premises, an enterprise which continued in various guises culminating in the Halifax and Huddersfield Union Bank in 1882, subsequently taken over by Lloyds Bank in 1919.

The bank remained at Royds' House until 1897 to 1898 when new premises were built on Commercial Street involving the demolition of the eastern five bays of the house. Royds' House was sold to the general manager of the bank from 1884 to 1897, who renamed it Somerset House.

Anyone interested in buying the building can call Ernest Wilson and Co Limited on 0113 451 0392