By Scott Wright
THE long-standing owners of a luxury country house hotel in Perthshire are exiting the business after more than three decades in charge.
Husband and wife Lesley and Neil McGown have sold the East Haugh House hotel and restaurant in Pitlochry after a 33-year stint during which they built a strong following at home and abroad for its cuisine and outdoor pursuits, namely hunting and fishing. The property was built more than 350 years ago as part of the Atholl Estate.
The McGowns initially decided to put the business on the market in 2019, before the pandemic struck. In an interview with The Herald in November, Mrs McGown said: “When is the worst time to put your property on the market after 31 years? That’s three months before a global pandemic, which is exactly what we did!”
READ MORE: Monday Interview: Country house hoteliers eye quieter future after a white-knuckle year
Now, having steered the hotel successfully through the challenges of the last 18 months, a buyer has been found. The business has been acquired by a family who plan to revert it back to residential use, and closed its doors for the final time on Thursday.
In a statement on LinkedIn, the McGowns said: “It’s now with much joy, but also a heavy heart, that we can announce that our dreams have come true and East Haugh House has been sold to a wonderful family who will be turning it back into a private house.
“We cannot begin to find the words to thank each and every person who has crossed our paths over the 33 years since we opened. So many became life-long wonderful friends and loyal customers, and we are truly grateful for your custom and love.
“When we bought East Haugh in 1989 we had such a passion and vision to create something guests would want to return to again and again, a place that was a home from home with the very best food and produce in the area. We are so proud to have achieved this and to have had some of the most wonderful colleagues working with us to bring this vision to life.”
“They really are at the heart of our success, and have weathered so much over the last 18 months with admirable resilience and commitment. Each will be a true asset to any business taking them on for the next chapter in their hospitality careers.”
The McGowns paid tribute to their daughters, Sophie and Emma, whom they said had “played a massive role in the running of East Haugh.”
“From washing dishes, cleaning rooms and waiting tables as children, to becoming an integral part of the business’s success – we are so grateful for all their support!” the McGowns added.
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 hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel