An upmarket island hotel overlooking the historic Highland Park distillery has doubled its capacity in a move that is expected to create new jobs in the local area.
The family-run Lynnfield Hotel in Orkney has completed a 10-room extension following a £400,000 funding package from Royal Bank of Scotland. The investment will ensure that the hotel is prepared for the upcoming staycation season as travel restrictions lift, creating up to five new jobs with additional reception, cleaning and service staff required to support increased guest numbers.
Purchased in 2006 by Malcolm Stout and his partner Lorna Reid, who previously ran the Cleaton House Hotel in Westray, the extension of the Lynnfield on the outskirts of Kirkwall was completed during its closure in line with local lockdown restrictions. Its highly-regarded restaurant - which focuses on dishes crafted with local produce, including seaweed-fed mutton - allowed the business to continue operating throughout 2020 and to retain all staff.
The hotel works closely with a number of suppliers in the area including farmers, oyster-farmers, artisan cheese producers and fishmongers and places high importance on supporting the wider local economy. This ethos has been carried through to the finer details in the hotel’s new rooms, which have been completed with finishing touches curated from a range of Orcadian suppliers – from the furniture made by local craftsmen Kerr Carpentry, bedding and cushions from Westray designer Hume Sweet Hume and Isle of Auskerry, and curtains made of Orkney tweed.
“Despite a challenging year, it is great to finally welcome guests back to the hotel, and to reveal our new rooms to the world," Mr Stout said.
READ MORE: Buyers sought for Scotland's original grand 'hydropathic' hotel
"Thanks to the support from Royal Bank of Scotland, we were able to complete the majority of building work during the hotel’s downtime, working with talented local contractors. Their unwavering commitment throughout the past year has been excellent, and places us in a strong position to cater for an expected increase in demand over the coming months.”
Margaret Keenan, senior relationship manager at Royal Bank of Scotland, said the team at the Lynnfield "have been resilient in the face of an uncertain time" as travel to island communities remained restricted until very recently.
"It’s fantastic to see such a strong re-opening from the hotel, with all rooms booked out and a busy period to come," she added. "The hotel is a wonderful attraction and income provider for many in the local community, and I look forward to supporting the team on their continued journey.”
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 here