“Legendary” would be a good description of Colin Beattie Bev Lyons finds out more.
I’ve had more hits than the Beatles’ says Colin Beattie with a wry twinkle in his eye as he sits back to enjoy a morning roll in the art-adorned walls of Oran Mor. By ‘hits’ Colin is not boasting about his successes – of which there are very many – but instead of the blows that have been dealt to him over the 35 years he has been a hugely active publican, restauranteur and devotee of culture and the arts.
Covid, of course, has been one of the latter obstacles he’s had to contend with alongside all of Scotlands publicans, but he says the headline act on his personal hit parade came from a certain Dan Quayle, ex-Vice President of America and his merry band he says of ‘vulture capitalists.’
Colin explains, “In 2012 a company called Cerberus (which in Greek mythology is a three-headed dog that guards the entrance to Hades) bought over some of Clydesdale Banks ‘distressed debts‘ which my businesses were wrongly classified as.
“I had to go and see them in London and they invited me into a standby arrangement which gave me the option of going under that day or paying £100,000 in the meantime. Fortunately, I managed to raise the funds to pay it.”
Colin consolidated what he had, sold off some of his units, and survived but when Covid hit in 2020, he was presented with another mountain.
Colin is a great believer in mountaintop motivation, a mantra he borrows from pastor Norman Vincent Peale, the author of The Power of Positive Thinking. Taking a sip of his coffee, Colin explains, “If you can’t climb the mountain, and you can’t get around it, you just have to imagine it’s not there. And that’s how I dealt with Covid because it was outwith my hands. I just had to step back.”
He used the time initially to cultivate his garden…and think. He said, “I did the garden, and met some neighbours I never met before, and as I thought about Covid and what could be done the penny dropped. This was universal. This was happening to everybody and that gave me some comfort.”
He might have stepped back initially, but he didn’t really stop. Thinking back to those first weeks and months he recalls: “It was ultra-difficult, and the implications were serious. We were in the middle of the season, with our theatre production A Play, A Pie and Pint, at Oran Mor so it dropped off two weeks before it closed in its entirety, we just didn’t know what was going to happen. “We had to lay a lot of people off, and we had to do what we could to retain customers, but the good news for us was that we retained eighty staff at Oran Mor – and they are loyal.
“Our award-winning wedding coordinator Pauline started a podcast during Covid and kept and rescheduled all the brides and weddings we had by keeping regular contact. It was incredible and no small feat.
“We got back incrementally. It wasn’t an easy gig, but we have a great team.”
Of Covid and the pressure it put on publicans he says: “I think Nicola Sturgeon was a disgrace with regard to licensing and how the whole thing was extended out. The industry was slaughtered. It was absolutely political. We were booked out over Christmas and had to cancel as she actually put out an edict through the government advising people not to go to events. It was outrageous.”
At the tail end of Covid, Colin also borrowed ‘about £500,000’ to ensure that he got ‘up and running‘ as Oran Mor began to reopen and adds, “We haven’t used a penny of it, and since we reopened we are actually up on our numbers, but it shows, when you borrow that amount of money, how you can go into a downward spiral. I didn’t buy two Ferraris. It has to be paid back, but I’ve not used it.”
Oran Mor is blossoming post-Covid and arguably takes more than any other venue in Glasgow on a weekly basis. Sales and events are up and as we speak one of its artists in residence Bill Blackwood passes by to check on some recent additions to its impressive decor featuring the works of Dunbar born John Muir, this country’s most famous and influential naturalist who was involved in the creation of the Grand Canyon and much more.
Colin is still passionate about its future and that of the multiple remaining units he currently has which turnover around £12 million per annum. He had offloaded some of his units prior to Covid – following the Cerberus fiasco. He said, “At one point I had twenty-five units, and five hundred staff but now I have around eleven or twelve units with three hundred staff. I’m trying to get off the bus before I get to the terminus. He laughs, “If you go back to Cerberus they tried to push me off the bus at Blackhill. But I got on again safely at Byres Road”
The units that Colin offloaded included JT Rochhead, at Glasgow Cross. He says: “I built that. I built Maggie Mays down stairs and I also had what became Boteco do Brazil. It was called Frankie Who? after Frankie Miller I got rid of Red Lizard at Fiddlers court on Bell Street and the jazz club and social club and cafe next door I had the Old College Bar as well but it had a fire so that’s gone, although there are future plans for the site. I let go of a great pub on Great Western Road Oblomov, and Casa Italia in west of the west end – Clydebank, as well as Jarvies and others. It was a conscious effort. Mainly after the drama with Cerberus, I identified I was too much out on limb there and had to consolidate and create a cushion for it.”
“The week before Covid struck on March 12 2020 I also sold my wee hotel at number one Alfred terrace, The Alfred in Great Western Road, a fourteen bedroom boutique hotel in the style of Prestonfield house so I was lucky.” After coming out of Covid, Colin also sold the Tiree Lodge hotel he had in the Western Isles which attracted big events like the surfing tournament to Tiree.
Some of Colin’s remaining eleven properties are let out by private arrangement and he is keen to keep their identity secret but he still operates around four or five including The Lismore, Granny Gibbs, The Atlantis, and Oran Mor. He says, “I bought the church next door to the hotel in Tiree with some notion that I will eventually make it a family affair maybe not 100 per cent residential. That’s where my granny came from and my family in Tiree.”
Colin says he and his businesses are ‘fighting fit’ and knows his family will not take over his interests so he is mindful of that. He says, “I wouldn’t burden them with it. I think it’s too difficult. I’ve looked at some people whose families have picked up the business of their father but it is too tough. My daughters are all happy with their own careers, so it’s how you move on. I’ve got plans. The business mustn’t diminish.
I’ve had people knock on my door, in fact right on cue, Colin Clydesdale just sold out to Greene King. They approached me and danced around handbags. I’m not knocking anyone but going forward the only people I’d get involved with are those who would keep me on in some capacity so I would have some say on how it would operate.
At 69, Colin says he has a ‘healthy philosophy’. “I’m here for as long as it takes. I don’t think about it. I love the fact I’ve got five daughters and eight grandchildren, and I love spending time with them, I’ve also got three whippets, one of which I bred myself by way of artificial insemination… they are my hobby. Colin’s other passion of course is his art – and as well as being responsible for commissioning artwork and sculptures in Glasgow and beyond, he has another building in Glasgow he says he ‘might turn into a wee antique shop.’
Colin is still in contention with the council over his commission The GI Bride, a companion piece to Lobey Dosser which sits at Partick Station, and is currently covered by a ticket machine. He says, “I’m angry about it. It’s a disgrace.”
He also paid for Chic Murray and Billy Connolly statues to be created by sculptor David Annand (who has now created a statue of Phillip Seymour Hoffman in New York) which currently remain in storage collecting dust due to a council dispute over where they will go. Colin is hopeful and says, ”I may have a new home for them.” He hopes they will be given the importance of Greyfriars Bobby in Edinburgh or Molly Malone in Dublin.
He said, “These statues became a major point of contention with the council. I’m in disbelief .” For the next five to ten years, he still has more work to do, including options for the remaining site of the old College Bar which he still owns, and he plans on retaining the Lismore and Granny Gibbs as well as undertaking renovations at the Atlantis after the beer garden licence was formally passed recently.
He says, “I still have a lot of work to do and other wee projects in the offing. My church conversion in Tiree is not for the faint-hearted. I’ve got a real job to do and I will enjoy it. I don’t do overseas though, so you’ll not see me in Marbella anytime soon.”