Hebridean Inn

Skye entrepreneur John Coghill noticed a letter in the newspaper in 2019 from a Broadford local drawing attention to the fact that there were few options left for dining out and takeaway food. After some additional research, he spotted the Hebridean Inn was up for sale.  The inn was a well-known hotel and restaurant in Broadford that has been part of the village since the 1970s. However, it was reduced to B&B for ease of management by the owners were aging. John and his partners acquired the Inn and set up Hebridean Hospitality in 2019. Soon after, the company approached DSL Business Finance for a loan to refurbish the restaurant kitchen.  The business has a strong management team with John at the helm and is supported by Accountant, David Liepins. John has previously managed large capital expenditure projects for his family business. He has also worked in the kitchen at Skye’s world-renowned restaurant and hotel The Three Chimneys, as well as managing other hotels on the island.

John Coghill said: “While setting up a hotel and restaurant business just a few weeks before lockdown wasn’t ideal in terms of timing, I knew there was a gap in the market for what we had to offer. It was a challenging start, but lockdown gave us the opportunity to refurbish the hotel and improve the rooms – we’re further ahead than we expected to be, in that respect. We also still managed to introduce our new offering to the community through our food truck and takeaway services. The funding from DSL Business Finance was critical to supporting the work we wanted to do to the building and helped us through lockdown.”

“We really feel we have managed to turn the Inn around and make it the best place to stay and dine in the village. There is still some way to go with our wider plans, but we have around nine staff year-round, which is great for local jobs, and there seems to be a lot of positivity about what we are doing.”