The hedonism of the 1920s and 30s is legendary, and Swing on Glasgow’s Hope Street harks back to this former age. Its art deco interior, tailored to nightly entertainment, is the brainchild of owners Craig and Emma McDonald who have invested £400k buying and transforming this modest basement space into what the owners hope will [...]

If you’re thinking there’s something familiar about Maclay Inns’ £700k, four-month renovation of Balloch’s Tullie Inn, you’d be on to something. There are more than a few nods to a certain waterfront bar and restaurant that opened in West Kilbride last year. Maclay Inns’ MD Steve Mallon has been quite open about how impressed he [...]

Jamie Oliver’s scored a hat trick in Scotland with Jamie’s Italian Aberdeen, on the back of his Glasgow and Edinburgh concerns. It opened last month on Union Street in the former Esselmont & Macintosh department store, and is also the most northerly of the celebrity chef’s UK estate. The design of the two storey space [...]

The zest that brothers Rahul and Pravesh (Bubbles) Randev have for their business has translated once again into another welcome addition to their burgeoning portfolio that includes The Eagle Lodge in Bishopbriggs and Lenzie’s Rasoi. The £1M Richmond, on the site of the former Bar Bola on Glasgow’s Park Road, is nothing short of immaculate. [...]

There are some refurbishments that go all out to capture that familiar, comfortable vibe that can take years to hone. The Huxley, the ground floor bar at Edinburgh’s Rutland Hotel, has pulled this off after its £200K overhaul by owner Signature Pubs, revealed late last month. Interior design consultancy Tibbatts.Abel was drafted in to reimagine [...]

Alan and Lorna Vannan run Peebles’ Green Tree Hotel. Jason Caddy hung by for a chat. To live and work with your loved one would test anyone’s mettle, let alone quitting your established careers to work together in an industry in which you’ve no experience, and relocating over 400 miles into the bargain. Husband-and-wife team [...]

In amongst all the chatter about January traditionally being the quietest month, let’s not forget that this month boasts one of the most important nights in the Scottish social calendar. There’s also quite a lot to shout about on the Scottish brand front, too. Jason Caddy investigates. It might be the bleak midwinter, but there’s [...]

The Hanging Bat Beer Cafe on Edinburgh’s Lothian Road opened at the end of last year and its interior is as quirky as its name. The former Mr Modos, now jointly owned by Gavin Ferguson and Chris Mair, also brews its own beer, and this was a major design consideration in the £100k spend. Gavin [...]

Cirque is the new £500k outfit from Hyde Leisure, the company behind Independent, the bar next door to the new club on Glasgow’s Queen Street. Operations Manager, Mark Loney, showed me around the two-storey space, formerly Yang, shortly before the official opening last year. It spans a ground floor and basement, containing three main areas, [...]

Fish and chip shop proprietors Renato and Angela Delvecchio now have bigger fish to fry with their first restaurant business, the £670k Ciao Bella, in Glasgow’s Burnside area. The Stonelaw Road eatery opened recently, just down the road from the chip shop business, Dello’s, that they’ve owned for some 30 years. Renato and Angela had [...]