A major UK hotel operator has been placed into administration.
The firm operates in Scotland and England and remains open for business, and the story leads our weekly recap.
All eight of its hotels across Scotland and England will continue to trade “while the administrators review the options” and all of the company’s 410 staff “will be retained by the administrators to support them”.
Alistair McAlinden and James Dewar from Interpath have been appointed joint administrators to Strathmore Hotels Limited.
The company’s head office is in East Kilbride and it owns and operates a group of eight hotels across Scotland and the north of England, including the Alexandra Hotel in Fort William, the Ben Nevis Hotel & Country Club in Fort William and the Ben Wyvis Hotel in Strathpeffer.
It also has the Cairn Hotel in Harrogate, the Cumbria Grand Hotel in the Lake District, the Nethybridge Hotel near Aviemore, the Royal Hotel in Oban, and the Salutation Hotel in Perth, described as Scotland’s oldest.
A social enterprise which recently opened a shop on Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street has been able to declare a significant milestone.
It has been quite the growth story, writes Ian McConnell.
I reported exclusively last month that the Scottish Design Exchange (SDX), launched in 2015 and run by Lynzi Leroy, had reached a “landmark” of £25 million of payments to independent artists, craftspeople and producers.
SDX passed the milestone following the opening in the spring of the store in Sauchiehall Street, its largest, in which it combines its art and design emporium with Foodies, a dedicated food and drink outlet.
The social enterprise noted that it now provides retail space and business support to more than 300 creative tenants across its three stores, in Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as through its online shop, revealing that one in five is earning more than £40,000 a year.
The community interest company observed it had been created to allow fashion designers, artists, textile and jewellery designers, publishers, photographers, and other producers to display their creations to high street customers, without having to pay what SDX described as “high commission rates demanded by galleries”.
In the end, its financial results were better than City watchers expected and offered investors confidence about the company’s direction of travel, writes Scott Wright.
Shares in Diageo surged last Thursday as its results for the year ended June 30 beat expectations and the market gave the seal of approval to the cost-cutting blueprint tabled by boss Sir Dave Lewis to revive the drinks giant’s fortunes.
But while the City raised a glass to the proposals from the veteran chief executive, not everyone at the Scotch whisky giant would likely have been in a mood for celebration.
The former Tesco chief’s plan to remove $1 billion of operating costs over the next three years will unfortunately result in a still to be determined number of job cuts across its global workforce, including some here in Scotland.
A former Coca-Cola bottling plant in East Kilbride has been transformed into a new day nursery, writes Rose Moncur.
Nurtured by Nature officially opened at 1 Burley Place in the College Milton South industrial estate on August 3, 2026.
Aerial view of the site.
The purpose-built nursery is operated by experienced childcare professionals Leann Lavery and Cara Selkirk, who previously managed Crossbasket Nursery.
The pair have now launched their own childcare business after achieving their goal of opening a nursery together.
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Leann Lavery and Cara Selkirk said: “Opening our own nursery is a dream come true, and we feel incredibly privileged to create a warm, safe and inspiring environment where children can grow, learn and thrive.
“With 10 years’ experience successfully managing a nursery, we are proud to continue providing the same high standards of childcare, early years education and nurturing environment that so many families have trusted us to deliver over the years.”
AROUND THE GREENS
This article appears as part of Kristy Dorsey’s Around the Greens series
When Steven Lannon could not find the kind of indoor golf facility he wanted to use himself, he decided to build one. He and his partner have invested around £170,000 in creating PGP Golf Studio, a performance-focused indoor golf venue that combines simulators, fitness space and coaching ambitions under one roof.
A member of East Kilbride Golf Club for about 25 years, Steven Lannon opened PGP Golf Studio in January after he and his partner identified an opportunity for an indoor venue that offered more than a conventional driving range or simulator experience.
Located in a unit at Coles Park, the near-2,000sq ft facility has attracted a mix of committed club golfers and newer players.
PGP has already reached operational break-even through memberships and casual bookings, according to Mr Lannon, who sees scope to develop further sites.