McKays Hotel unveils £1.25m development

McKays Hotel in Pitlochry has unveiled its £1.25m development with hopes that Scottish tourism will recover post-covid. Owners of the hotel, J and R Group Ltd, have built 12 new contemporary bedrooms and created a re-imagined 100-seat function suite, despite recent finance worries across the hospitality sector. The mid-term plans will establish a McKays Townhouse, with two apartments followed by the refurbishment of seven en-suite rooms located at an existing sister business which closed during lockdown. The latest investment package takes J and R Group investment in McKays to around £3m and increases the number of rooms for guests to 39. The construction was undertaken as a ‘live project’ by Dundee building company, Alpha Projects, who worked alongside, architect and design consultants, Dave Phillip and Steve Gibson, which enabled McKays to continue to trade as work progressed during the summer months. Despite the impact of Covid-19 on tourism and fears over looming energy price spikes, McKays’ owners are “confident in recovery for Scotland’s tourism sector”. Richard Drummond, director, J and R Group, said: “We have confidence in what we have created here as a product. Our approach has been to continually reinvest in the business, to improve the quality for customers. We grew sales through the last financial crash of 2007/2008 and we have grown the business since then. That gave the bank confidence in us, as operators, and they also saw the impact when we began to build up our portfolio of rooms. “We are a hotel, restaurant and bar. We also support live music across Scotland and artists locally through things like the ‘March Into Pitlochry’ boutique music festival. When guests come here, they are coming for a number of different reasons. We genuinely believe we are offering something that not every hotel has.” He added: “I don’t think we are back at maximum again. That may take a couple of years but we are confident the international market will return.”