The Scalloway Hotel in Shetland is due to reopen next year after its new owners received the keys this week.
Carl Cross, a director of local wholesale company Hughson Brothers, has bought the 23-bedroom hotel alongside his boss Robert Boulton.
Mr Cross said his family will be running the hotel, which has been shut since closing in 2020.
The plan is to get the building back into shape before opening the bar and rooms in the coming months – with the restaurant set to follow later in 2023.
Whilst the family will be running things, the aim is to employ more staff in the future.
Celebrated history of Scalloway Hotel
The hotel received great acclaim under previous owners Caroline and Peter McKenzie, winning national awards – particularly for its food – and hosting notable guests like then prime minister David Cameron and actor Bill Nighy.
But their company which operated the hotel went into administration in the spring of 2020, with the immediate loss of 17 jobs as the doors shut.
The downturn in the oil and gas sector, which was a source of room bookings, and increasing overheads were cited as two of the reasons behind the move.
The McKenzies had already put the hotel on the market a year earlier as they looked to step back from the hotel sector.
It started off with an asking price of £900,000, but that had dropped to £475,000.
Mr Cross, 54, said the conclusion of the sale has been a long time coming.
Hotel refurbishment planned
There is a hope that the bar and some of the rooms could be open before Lerwick’s Up Helly Aa is held at the end of January.
However, this depends on a premises licence being in place.
“We hope to get heads on beds to begin with and get the bar up and running once the licence has been transferred,” Mr Cross said.
It may be into the summer before the restaurant is open, with the kitchen said to need a lot of work.
“It is our intention to bring it back to its former glory if you like, if not better.”
Mr Cross said the rooms are in “not too bad” shape despite the fact that the building has been shut for two and a half years.
He said things were largely left as they were – with biscuits still in the room and ingredients in the kitchen. The bar will be gutted out, with new pipes installed.
Conversation