Former world number one tennis player Andy Murray and his wife Kim were double winners at Scotland’s hospitality awards last night as their five-star hotel took home top honours.
The Cromlix Hotel near Dunblane, which the couple has owned since 2013, secured the prestigious Independent Hotel of the Year Title ahead of Highland Perthshire’s Killiecrankie House at the Scottish Excellence Awards.
Presented at the Sheraton Grand Hotel and Spa in Edinburgh last night, the awards are billed as “the ultimate accolade for businesses and individuals working in Scottish hospitality, food service and tourism”.
Kim Murray said: “The hotel has had a remarkable 12 months, and the team has worked incredibly hard to continue delivering an outstanding experience for our guests.
“I’m so proud we’ve been recognised with this amazing award. We’re excited for the future of Cromlix and hope we can continue to offer Scottish excellence to every guest.”
READ MORE: Landmark moment for Scotch whisky as 'ghost' distillery returns after 40 years
In a second win for The Cromlix, the venue’s executive head chef Darin Campbell was voted Chef of the Year.
Campbell, who said his original ambition had been to become a professional golfer, has held the post for the last 11 years with previous experience at One Devonshire Gardens in Glasgow and the two Michelin-Star Restaurant Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles.
Finalists in the Chef of the Year category included Kevin Dalgleish of Aberdeen’s Amuse Restaurant, which was a runner-up in the Restaurant Newcomer section, Lorna McNee of Cail Bruich in Glasgow, last year’s Restaurant of the Year champion, Calum Montgomery of Edinbane Lodge on the Isle of Skye, and Dean Parker of Celentano’s, Glasgow.
Killiecrankie House took another of the night’s main awards, Restaurant of the Year.
After quitting their jobs in finance and advertising in London to take over the renowned establishment near Pitlochry in 2022, Tom Tsappis and Matilda Ruffle began renovating Killiecrankie and its restaurant.
Their respective Greek-Cypriot and half-Japanese roots are now said to be evident throughout their menus.
READ MORE: Scotland's largest collection of rum comes to Edinburgh
Highly commended in the category was The Globe Inn in Dumfries, where Robert Burns is said to have “eaten, drank, recited, slept and otherwise entertained ‘affairs of the heart’" before his death in 1796 .
Head of cuisine, Jonathan Brett, said: “The Globe Inn has been around for well over 400 years but it has really only been in the past two or three years that we have seen the investment and transformation that have made it into what we believe is one of the finest casual fine dining restaurants in Scotland.”
Group Hotel of the Year was won by the 240-bedroom Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh - The Caledonian, with close competition from Apex Waterloo Place and Duisdale House on the Isle of Skye, which was the winner of the category in 2018.
READ MORE: New Italian restaurant and deli opens at luxury Scottish hotel
Glasgow favourites Celentano’s were voted Restaurant Newcomer of the Year, as Edinburgh Street Food, a grouping of 10 independent traders in Leith Street, took the Highly Commended rating.
Rachel and Graham Bucknall’s Ship Inn overlooking Elie Bay took the Pub Excellence Award ahead of the Highly Commended Boar’s Head in Auchtermuchty, and McLarens on the Corner in Edinburgh’s Morningside.
Rachel Bucknall said: "We’re absolutely delighted to accept the award on behalf of our team.
“They work tirelessly to give our customers wonderful service and great food in a fabulous location, always with smiles on their faces.
“This is a testament to their hard work.”
For a full list of this year’s winners, click here.
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