Clachan Grill for Ballater
Aberdeen restaurant and bar group CranberryCo has added the Clachan Grill in Ballater to its portfolio and in doing so has created eight new jobs. Owner Mark Cavanagh was keen to support the community after the impact of Storm Frank in 2015. He comments, “Having grown up in Ballater, I was keen to offer some support in the wake of the flooding, which had a huge impact on businesses and local people, and the Clachan Grill is a perfect addition to the group. This is CranberryCo’s sixth unit and we have invested £350,000 to bring a former restaurant back to life and create jobs for the local area.”
Compass Group to Open the White Horse Oyster Bar
Compass Group, owner of Sygn and Monteith’s, is to open its sixth venue in Edinburgh called The White Horse Oyster Bar. It will sit on the former site of the White Horse Inn, Edinburgh’s oldest Royal Mile pub which dated from 1742. The bar will hopefully re-open this summer and offer the ‘best of British’ food on its menu, according to Murray Ainslie, operations director of Compass. He told DRAM, “Edinburgh is really buoyant at the moment, and with the quality of all the venues, it’s a great place to operate. We want the White Horse to be all about sharing food, having groups of people enjoying the best of Scotland’s seafood, so think oysters, langoustines and classic cocktails.” The White Horse Oyster Bar is the first venue opened by the group this year, and joins Monteith’s, Sygn, The West Room, The Chop House (Leith) and The Chop House in the New Waverley Arches, which opened last May.
Stephen White has taken over Munro’s
Stephen White has taken over Glasgow bar Munro’s from Signature Pubs. Signature bought the pub last May as part of a package of pubs acquired when it bought the Thistle Pub Group. The acquisition included Munro’s, The Raven, The Hope (now Smokin’ Fox) The Wick in Prestwick and Clerk’s Bar in Edinburgh.
White has teamed up with Jon McMillan, the manager of one of his other pubs, Blackfriars, and the plan is to increase the pub’s real ale offering.
Bellavista
Victor and Carina Contini have launched The Bellavista Room at Contini George Street, Edinburgh. This new private dining room, created in partnership with leading Italian Franciacorta producer Bellavista, boasts a purpose built dining table which seats up to 18 people. The room is now available for private lunches, dinners and events.
Wagamama has opened its latest restaurant in Edinburgh at St Andrew Square. This brings the number of Wagamama’s in the city to three.
Phil McDonald has renamed his Neighbourhood Bar in Finnieston – Taphouse Bar & Kitchen. It’s been given a revamp and the bar is now specialising in craft beers, sliders & pizza. Phil told DRAM, “I wanted to take it in a different direction and reinvigorate it.” More next month.
Partick Duck Club takes over from Cafe Rio
Partick Duck Club in Glasgow has opened its doors on the site of Cafe Rio, which closed at the beginning of April. The new owners, Ross McDonald and Greig Hutchison, have taken on the lease of the venue which has had various tenants over the last couple of years. The duo have taken a nostalgic nod to a West End tavern from 1827, called the Bun and Yill House, which was located near the site of the new venue. The tavern was favoured by Glasgow merchants, bankers and professors, who would walk from the city to Partick each Saturday to dine. Their favourite dish of roasted duck, sage and onion and green peas, was washed down with locally-brewed ale and created the name of the drinking and social club they formed in 1810, the ‘Duck Club of Partick’. McDonald told DRAM, “We were really interested in the history of Partick, so when we heard about the duck club, it seemed perfect. There are a few nods to the history on the menu with duck dishes, but not too much.”The new cafe bar will be open from Monday to Friday from 8am, and from 9am on Saturdays. Unfortunately, dogs will no longer be allowed. McDonald told DRAM, “I have two dogs and love them, but when we first took over, we found that the dogs barking and misbehaving was disrupting other customers’ enjoyment of the bar, so as a business decision, we decided our customers would be happier with no dogs.” McDonald was previously general manager at Cafe Zique, which is situated around 200 yards away from his new premises.