A north-east restaurateur who claimed his business was hit hard by a string of road closures hopes the end of work on the Aberdeen city bypass will help its next owner.
Sandy Law, who has run The Lairhillock Inn in Netherley, Aberdeenshire, for more than 11 years with his wife, Nancy, their son, Donald, and daughter, Sandra, said he had been trying to sell the business for about a year-and-a-half.
The restaurant is now being marketed by Cornerstone Business Agents at a “slightly reduced” guide price of £800,000.
Mr Law, 71, said he was looking forward to a “real” retirement after his spell at The Lairhillock Inn, which followed – after a year-long break – a long career in the fish trade.
Earlier this year, he said his business had suffered after a scheduled closure of the B979 Netherley road was postponed without his knowledge.
Mr Law previously claimed he had lost out on as much as £12,000 in trade due to local road closures due to construction work on the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR).
Yesterday he said it would be a relief to see that work coming to an end, with only “some tidying up” still to be done in the area.
Mr Law, who lives in Bieldside, Aberdeen, added: “It just seems like we have had one road closure after another for ages. It has not helped us.”
Completion of the AWPR this autumn “will be good for whoever takes on the business”, he added.
The former coaching inn – dating back at least 210 years – employs about 15 people and is managed by Donald Law, who previously worked at the Marcliffe Hotel and Spa at Pitfodels.
Cornerstone director Barry McNeil, who is handling the sale on behalf of the family, said: “The Lairhillock Inn is arguably one of the best-known bar restaurants in the north-east of Scotland.
“A mainstay in many an Aberdonian’s favourite eating places, it has been run by the Law family for the last 11 years.”
Mr McNeil said the inn was poised to benefit from the Aberdeen bypass, the Granite City’s new exhibition and conference centre and housing developments in the area – projects sending out “a sure fire signal that the Aberdeen oil economy is back on the up”.
