Corner House Nursery, The Grange, 13 Minto Street, EH9 1RG, Edinburgh, EH9 1RG

Christie & Co are delighted to offer to market this valuable long let children’s day nursery investment opportunity let until 2053 (no breaks) with RPI linked annual rent reviews.

This attractive Victorian property on the east side of Minto Street has traded as a children’s day nursery for over 20 years and is in high demand with the local community.

The nursery currently trades in partnership with Edinburgh City Council to offer assisted funded places to 3-5 year olds.

Corner House Nursery, The Grange, 13 Minto Street, EH9 1RG is in an ideal location near the City Centre sitting just over three miles from The Edinburgh City Bypass making the site incredibly convenient for commuters as well as local residents.

Located just off the A701 in the affluent Newington district of Edinburgh the nursery is situated in a highly populated area with good amenities and excellent transport links with Arthur’s Seat, as well as an abundance of nearby parks and open spaces in close proximity to the site.

The service has multiple playrooms across three floors. Babies and toddler playrooms are based across the ground floor of the building, with an additional playroom located on the second floor. Older children use the playrooms on the top floor of the building.

Service Overview
Nurseries provide day care for children prior to joining primary school (ordinarily in the term before a child turns five).

Day nurseries aim to provide a holistic approach to childcare supporting the overall well-being and development of young children.

These services provide educational activities for early learning, nutritious meals, playtime and social engagement with peers. The provision ensures safety and security (e.g. secure premises, health & safety checks and adequate staffing). Parents are encouraged to be involved in their child’s development through daily photo updates via apps and semi-regular development updates.
Market supply of nurseries are split into five main categories, but culture and development focus varies. These categories are:

• Day nurseries: Open all year round and for ages zero to five. These can be privately run, not-for profit or operated by local authorities.

•Pre-schools: Often run by voluntary parent-led communities or charities. These cater for ages two to five and operate during school term times.


• Independent Nursery schools: Private nurseries, often attached to independent schools. Similar to day nurseries but take advantage of independent school facilities.

• Maintained Nursery schools: Local authority funded, often located in deprived areas and offer high-quality early education. Staff include qualified teachers and offer the same standards and curriculum as schools.

• Children’s centres: Comprehensive support to families for children under five. This includes childcare, parenting courses and health support.

Future Drivers
There are several drivers for children’s day nurseries, which are important determinants of future demand. These are listed as:

• Lifestyle and costs, requiring both parents to return to work (e.g. inflation and cost of living);

• Changes in government policy and funding of early years funding entitlement;

• Parents awareness of the importance and benefits of early years education (school readiness, social interaction with peers);

• Development of new-build residential and work-hubs, driving need for access to childcare and community services.

Scottish Commentary
As of March 2025 there are currently c.3,400 day care of children businesses across Scotland owned through a mixture of privately owned businesses (c.29.8%), local authority (c.51.8%), voluntary/ not for profit (18%) and health board (c.0.06%). Statistics confirmed via Care Inspectorate online data.

Scotland are regulated by Care Inspectorate instead of Ofsted with a similar grading system measuring against four quality frameworks which essentially are broken down into; operations, quality of setting, quality of leadership, quality of staff.

Funding is passed down by Scottish Government to each of the 32 local authorities across Scotland with ‘sustainable rates’ differing by council area mostly due to the demographics of each area. These are reviewed and increased annually and are utilised to subsidise parent’s costs alongside Scotland’s offering of 1140 hours of free childcare per year for all 3-5 year olds and eligible 2 year olds.

Since April 2018, premises in Scotland that are used wholly or mainly as a day nursery have been able to apply for 100% relief from Non-Domestic Rates.

Appetite to grow amongst privately owned operators remains high for both freehold and leasehold assets with demand high for successful operators to provide more spaces for parents and children.

The property comprises of a two storey detached Victorian property that has been beautifully designed and finished to an exceptionally high standard creating a home away from home atmosphere for children attending the nursery with bright spacious areas dedicated to each stage of their development.

Prior to its use as a day nursery the property had previously been used as a nursing home.

The property is category C listed, circa 1840, with later 19th Century additions to the rear and stands within the Blacket Conservation Area.

The GIA of the property is in the region of 5,457 square feet. The EPC of the property is currently D and has potential to go to C.

The nursery benefits from gardens both to the front and rear of the property which are well resourced with a range of age appropriate equipment offering children good opportunities to be active and practice their physical skills.

We are instructed to seek offers in the region of £1,215,000, subject to contract for the heritable (freehold) interest. An acquisition at this level would provide a net initial yield of 8.38% after allowing for purchasers costs of 5.85%.

The transaction would not attract VAT as the property is not elected and no VAT is payable on the annual rent.

The property is let on the remainder of a 30 year FRI lease agreed in March 2023 with the current lease expiring in 2053 and no break clauses in the lease agreement.

Rent as of March 2023 was set at £100,000 which was increased to £104,000 in 2024 and £107,769.31 in March 25

Annual rent reviews are RPI linked (2%-4% collar and cap).

The property is let to Thrive Childcare & Education Limited, a premium national operator of 46 children's day nurseries across England and Scotland. The lease is guaranteed by Thrive Childcare & Education Group Limited, an entity with net assets in excess of £5m and a Dun & Bradstreet rating of 2A4.

Thrive Childcare & Education is ultimately owned by Apiary Capital LLP, a mid-market private equity house with specialisms in Education, Healthcare, Business Services, Financial Services and Technology.

Thrive Childcare and Education. Corner House - The Grange (CS ) is registered with Care Inspectorate to provide a care service to a maximum of 100 children between the ages of 3 months and entry into primary school, of whom a maximum of 28 children are aged 3 months to 2 years.

The nursery is registered with Care Inspectorate under Strawberry Hill Nurseries Limited (SC224815) which is owned by Thrive Childcare & Education Group Limited.

Currently the Corner House – The Grange sits with Adequate grades across all Quality Inspection Framework evaluations.