IT MUST be a tough shift, playing Graham Suttle at Monopoly, such is the manner in which his business, Kained Holdings, has bought up bars and restaurants in Finnieston over the last decade.

Having started with Lebowskis in 2007, Kained will open its fifth venue on Argyle St by the end of the year, its tenth overall.

It’s fair to assume that without the investment and innovation brought to the west-end area by Mr Suttle and his business partners Mo Clark and Scott Arnott, Finnieston would not be the go-to part of Glasgow for upmarket cocktails and steak dinners. Or hipster barbershops for that matter.

The company plan, from day one, was to “bring ethical produce, community commitment, endless White Russians and innovative development” to Glasgow and beyond.

“When we first started a guy asked me how much a pint of Tennent’s was. I told him it was 30p dearer than what he was used to paying; it’s a well-known plan for getting rid of the riff-raff, and he told me he’d see me outside in six months and he’d chuck me 50p because I’d be begging,” regales Mr Suttle.

“I thought ‘what have we done?’ and here we are, about to open our tenth venue, and the street has completely changed. There are some great people, great talent and it’s all independent.”

Mr Suttle says Kained has been quiet about its role in rejuvenating an area that has been described as the “hippest place in Britain”.

There remains an element of humility when the topic is raised, but he says: “I think genuinely we’ve been at the front of it, we’ve certainly been at the heart of it.

“And we’ve been vocal about people coming into the street; we want it to remain independent, because our business is run independently. I love what Finnieston has become, I love that it’s been compared to Shoreditch and I do sit back some days, and we’re not the sort to be big-headed, but I do think ‘Jesus, we’ve really helped shape this’.”

It is not just for the good of the area of course. Kained now boasts a £7 million revenue and employs 150 people – numbers which will grow by the end of the year, by which time Kained will have another two venues to its name.

The most recent addition is The Kelbourne Saint in the west end – formerly the Crosslands bar which featured in Trainspotting. Under new ownership, and a £500,000 refit, it is now a family-friendly restaurant with innovative food and drink at its heart.

But the company is embracing the old regulars by keeping traditional optics and giving them a warm welcome.

The new drinks offers includes a roast chicken cocktail, and a craft beer tank system that holds a specially brewed beer directly delivered from WEST.

This is a food venue, primarily though, and the company has stated its intentions by recruiting former Hutchinson’s chef James Killen to run the kitchen.

Mr Suttle describes a focal-point rotisserie as the venue’s “pièce de résistance”. With chicken on one side and pork on the other plus a host of sides from roast potatoes to salted-caramel coated pineapples, he says: “It’s full of flavour bombs. It’s going to be stunning.”

The journey to this point, Mr Suttle says, reflects his progression through his thirties: “We opened Lebowski’s because I wanted a party bar, we opened The Finnieston because I loved sea food, and Porter & Rye because I wanted a steak restaurant.

“Now, two of the three business partners have two kids and we’re always dying to find somewhere we can take the kids. This place lends itself beautifully to that.”

Next up is another Finnieston bar after Kained picked up the former Rockus, and closed it down for refurbishment.

“We’re spending £200,000 to try and get it back to what we believe it should have been. We’ve chased this unit for seven years and finally it’s come to us,” says Mr Suttle.

Venue ten for the business will be a not-for-profit deli that will open next to Lebowskis.

“I started to see that we had to do more to give back,” he says. “We want to give back as much as we can because it’s the community that keeps us in business.”

The deli will open in conjunction with Action for Children’s Moving On programme and will see youths with difficult backgrounds given the chance to be trained. The move follows work Kained did with the charity in its other venues.

“We’ve had a success story at Lebowskis southside; every time I see him I’m almost welling up. He had a hard, hard start to life and he’s totally smashing it now.”

Upbeat and enthusiastic about business and life, Mr Suttle’s tone only changes when we begin to talk about business rates.

“It’s a joke, an absolute disgrace that the government is talking about helping small businesses and yet at every juncture has put obstacles crushing legislation on this industry,” he says.

“No other business has to do what we do. If they want Scotland to sit in the top echelons of tourism they need to support restaurants and bars.”

As he waves at yet another fellow business owner walking past outside, Mr Suttle admits this is the busiest the business has ever been, which will lead to consolidation next year. Or that’s the plan at least.

“We’ve got our eye on one other project,” he says, face lighting up. “It will take us completely in another direction.”