Kincraig Castle Hotel has been sold
Kincraig Castle Hotel is a stunning baronial-style former mansion house with accommodation over three principal floors u…
Read MoreThe Townhouse in Aberfeldy was given a new lease of life in 2015 by local businessman Blair Girvan and his team, who redeveloped the historic building and former Palace Hotel in Breadalbane Terrace into a stylish fifteen bedroom boutique B&B with its own “Upstairs Restaurant”.
The building, dating from the 1880’s was once a twenty three bedroom hotel, but was remodelled it into a far more manageable, more modern, fifteen en-suite bedroom B&B.
Commenting on their journey so far, Blair Girvan said:
“We’ve worked hard, over the past three years, to build an excellent reputation for boutique B&B accommodation for couples, together with offering a stand alone restaurant which excels in offering well priced meals using local produce,” said Blair, who purchased the building in 2012 after selling his family’s garage, which lay adjacent to The Townhouse, to the Co-op retail group. We’re delighted to be approaching our forth Christmas of trading in this location. Some of the original rooms were far too small for a modern hospitality business, and not all of them had room for an en-suite. I came up with the layout design myself, and then got my architect to draw it up properly, submitting it for planning.”
The completed layout created a stylish entrance hallway with rooms, restaurant, named aptly “The Upstairs Restaurant”, and lounge bar above, retaining many character features.
Originally planning only to offer a boutique B&B, it was the approach from locally based chef Lee Patrick, who used to work as Head Chef at The Inn on the Tay at Grandtully, that changed Blair’s mind to also offer a restaurant.
“As well as working locally, Lee used to have his own restaurant called Café D’Amour. He had loads of experience and ideas, and contacted me to offer his services,” said Blair. “We realised we could actually have a pretty nice restaurant as another strand to the business. To be honest, we were already thinking that our upstairs dining room and lounge were far too nice to use solely as a breakfast room. The Upstairs Restaurant was born. We concentrated on making the B&B aspect work first, and then opened the restaurant in September 2015. Lee is still with us, helping me grow the food side. I’m so glad he took the initiative!”
With it being very apparent in the business that teamwork, and finding the right staff, is key for Blair, he is keen to pay tribute to Craig Jamieson, and David Montgomery, his hotel managers.
“David, or Monty as we call him, has been with me for about four years now. He came on board just before we opened to help with the set up of the hotel, and general running of it once we opened. He is very much our public facing manager who is great with customers.”
Added Blair: “Craig has been with us for about a year and a half now, brought in as we were getting really busy and needed some extra help. He has since taken over some of my responsibilities so i can spend more time on other things. They are both great guys, and I think we all make a very good team. I have twelve members of staff in all, with a Spaniard who joins us in the Summer months, pretty much everyone is from the immediate area. A really nice aspect is that virtually all of them walk to work.”
It’s surely another sign, if it were needed, that three years on, The Townhouse has been a great success when it comes to presenting a local and healthy rural business.
The Townhouse Aberfeldy
Breadalbane Terrace, Aberfeldy, Perthshire, PH15 2AG
townhouseaberfeldy@gmail.com
T +44 (0)1887 829 995
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