Scotland’s hospitality and leisure businesses are fighting to keep our high streets alive.
They’re investing in spaces, creating jobs and giving people reasons to spend time – and, more importantly, money – in our towns and city centres again.
Yet too often, those same ventures are met with barriers, red tape and resistance from councils and local objectors, much to the annoyance of the small business community across Scotland.
Two recent examples that have caught my eye for all the wrong reasons are The Haberdashery in Glasgow and Golf-X in Ayr.
These venues want to do exactly what we desperately need: bringing people back onto the high street, breathing life into tired and underused areas and creating jobs for local people.
However, both find themselves tangled in local opposition, and that should worry everyone who cares about keeping our towns alive.
Take The Haberdashery, for example. A reclaimed building on Sauchiehall Street turned into what has been operating as a thriving wedding and events hub for the last three years.
The building stood empty for over a decade, until young, eager business partners Nikki Fairful and Afton Ferguson invested in the venture, completely refurbishing it into a stunning multi-purpose events space.
The pair installed sound proofing and even commissioned acoustic reports to demonstrate that they were operating below recommended noise levels, only to be blocked from hosting events by Glasgow City Council and disgruntled locals.
I find it ironic that a business which sought to regenerate a building, support local suppliers and attract spending in the community gets shut down on the basis of complaints by less than ten households and a retrospective planning application.
It feels like a textbook case of bureaucracy triumphing over common sense.
With that said though, it’s been promising to see more than 100 people have since backed the venue, calling it a ‘vibrant’ and ‘culturally valuable’ space in the city, to which I can’t help but agree.
Down the road in Ayr, Golf-X is another good news story that has taken a complicated turn.
Business partners Christiano Simeone and Scott Hannah invested six-figures in transforming a vacant space in the town centre into a golf-simulator venue with dozens of jobs, innovative leisure and a fresh high-street draw.
But in a recent licensing meeting, some councillors expressed concern that the golf clubs used for the simulators run the risk of becoming stage props for drunken mischief, which – frankly – I think is ridiculous, given the number of similar venues who operate under similar conditions.
Cue wasted time, uncertainty and unnecessary caution killing momentum.
Here’s the thing – both projects are filling gaps, not creating new problems. Our high streets are dying, footfall is falling and these businesses offering unique, experience-led destinations that diversify the nighttime economy and provide local employment.
Yet, they’re treated like the enemy.
Councils need to stop strangling high-street recovery with fears and backward-looking regulations.
Noise and safety are valid concerns, but they don’t require full bans or public spectacle hearings by default.
Conditional approvals, reasonable restrictions and clear guidance would do far more.
If we want our town centres to survive, we need to lower the barriers for new hospitality venues. That means streamlining event licensing, responding quickly to mitigation efforts, offering incentives for nighttime openings and giving businesses proper feedback.
Instead of treating new venues as potential nuisances, councils should ask what they bring to their communities. In these cases, it’s jobs, vibrancy, investment and destination appeal.
Let’s not have good ideas die under planning objections or licensing wrangles.
The Haberdashery doesn’t need to be silenced; it needs guidance on compliance. Golf-X doesn’t need to be sidelined; it needs practical rules to keep it safe without killing its vibe.
We owe more to entrepreneurs who are trying to make our high streets live again. If we keep shutting down new ideas instead of helping them land, what’s left will be boarded-up buildings and dead streets and not the destinations we hope to preserve.
High streets don’t revive themselves. It takes energy, innovation and a little bit of willing support to turn the corner. Let’s make sure they get that chance.
SIDE – WORDS 260
I saw a couple of news stories recently which illustrate the power a brand ambassador can have.
It’s likely that when you think of a brand ambassador, a celebrity will come to mind – such as Andy Murray being announced as the first brand ambassador for Walker’s Shortbread this summer.
But not all brand ambassadors are famous faces who likely come with a hefty price tag, and they can prove just as effective.
Tourism figures from the past year have shown that our beloved Tartan Army has helped to boost visitors from the Euro 2024 host nation Germany.
Our army of loyal football fans left such a wonderful impression on Germans that they were second only to visitors from the United States, equating to a spend of £360 million for our economy.
It proves that there’s no other football fans quite like the Tartan Army and their playful and friendly nature is powerful enough to draw in visitors. That right there is worth its weight in gold for our tourism industry and the thousands of businesses who benefit from visitors.
To coincide with the FIFA World Cup qualifiers kicking off, official eyes and ears partner of the Scottish FA, Specsavers, released a video documenting the incredible lengths some fans undertake to follow our national football team across the world, including stories from last year’s Euros.
Let’s hope the Tartan Army effect continues at the FIFA World Cup next year, to provide money-can’t-buy advertising, illustrating that there’s nowhere like Scotland. We just need the national team to play their part in qualifying!
LAUGH – WORDS 127
Ardbeg has had a stroke of genius idea to open a Whisky themed hotel on Islay.
Tourism and Whisky are two huge contributors to our economy so it’s exciting to see them combined to offer an experience that I’m sure will be on every Whisky lover’s wish list.
The hotel isn’t far from the company’s distillery, which is part of The Glenmorangie Company, and will include Whisky themed features such as copper artwork made from a retired still and a ‘press for Whisky’ button.
I think perhaps the House of Gods hotels in Edinburgh and Glasgow have set a trend for including a ‘push for’ button with the boutique hotel offering prosecco top ups.
I wonder if we’ll see any other Scots hotels take up the trend.
WEEP – WORDS 120
Beauty retailer, Bodycare has entered administration and will close 32 stores including eight in Scotland.
It succumbed to the many pressures facing the retail sector including rising costs, the impact of the cost-of-living on its customers, plus a delayed transition from its online retail platform.
It’s another terrible blow for our high streets, retail parks and shopping centres, and will leave more empty units peppering them.
It remains to be seen what will happen to the rest of its stores as administrators look to secure a rescue sale. I hope it can be salvaged.
This latest news reinforces my point that we need to be helping businesses that can and want to invest in our high streets to do so.
