MSPs have banned pictures of their new £125,000 bar at Holyrood.
The bar – called the Queensberry House Lounge – cost taxpayers £75,000 to build with the rest paid for by catering contractors Sodexo. But parliament bosses are refusing to let taxpayers see what they have helped pay for because of concerns over "privacy".
The move has even angered some MSPs, who claim the public should be allowed to see the bar.
The new bar has been created because parliament chiefs said they could not justify the £50,000 cost of keeping the existing restaurant in the £414 million building open at night.
The Queensberry House Lounge will serve between 4pm and 10pm on weekdays, but critics have long argued that Holyrood politicians should use local bars.
The Lounge will only be open to MSPs, other parliament passholders and invited guests, and prices will reflect local rates.
But a parliament spokeswoman said photographs were not allowed in advance of the bar opening as it would disrupt preparations, and pictures will not be allowed once it opens to protect members' privacy.
She said: "Our focus remains on providing a service to those using the lounge – and their expectations of privacy."
Labour Lothians MSP Kezia Dugdale said: "If the existing bar in the Parliament cannot sustain itself, it should close and we should all be encouraged to use bars in the local area.
"I'm sure they could do with some support from politicians.
"The public is entitled to see anything and everything that goes on in the Parliament. Transparency is one of its founding principles.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article