Bed & Breakfast for the Whisky Lover!
Our clients Siebette and Anne-Jan contacted us in May 2018 to ask about hospitality finance as they were looking at moving from Holland to Scotland to fulfill their dream of owning and operating a whisky themed bed and breakfast. Both of them have an in depth knowledge of the Whisky industry and have their own impressive collection from which they offer tasting sessions!
After much searching they found The Gables in Dufftown a perfect location as it is on the famous Whisky Trail. The Gables was an established bed and breakfast but was traded very much to suit the owners so there was no focused effort on the trade which meant limited accounts and made the deal just that little bit more challenging. We were able to position the deal showing realistic and achievable projections for when Siebette and Anne-Jan took over.
The process of the loan application went through fairly seamlessly, however, there were some issues during the legal work stage and these have caused some major delays. The loan was offered in September and instead of being able to complete and move in at the beginning of December, which would have timed well with their house sale and move from The Netherlands, they have had to wait until February 2019 for the legal paperwork to be sorted out. This obviously caused some major stress not least because they were moving country as well (as home) and they were also ready to go with a new website and links to the distilleries in the area – it seemed it was all systems go! It was a very frustrating time. Stewart Hindley & Partners tried to assist them by continuing to engage with the lender and suggesting ways that things could move forward. Eventually the dream came true and they became the owners of The Gables on 30 April 2019!
To cut a long story short, they are now trading well and offer their guests themed packages such as:-
- Whisky & Chocolate
- Whisky & Cigars
- Whisky & Cheese
- Don’t Drink & Drive Whisky Tours
In addition to the Whisky there are a host of other things to do in the area, Walking, Skiing, Fishing and Golf to name a few. Why not visit their website to find out more….
https://www.thegablesbb.co.uk/
https://www.facebook.com/thegableswhiskybb/
What Siebette and Anne Jan say about Stewart Hindley & Partners…
It has been our dream for years to run a whisky themed B&B in Speyside/Moray. All though we did a lot of research ourselves and developed the outline of a business plan, it was difficult for us – being Dutch and without experience in starting a hospitality business – to come up with the necessary figures and obtain funding. We almost give up on our dream when we heard of Stewart Hindley and contacted them. They reviewed our ideas and financial situation and advised our dream was possible. They helped us with our business plan and knew which lenders to approach. They supported us at every step in the process, both with their extensive expertise and – equally important – mental support. We could trouble them with any question we had, answers were always provided quickly and in a way we exactly understood what was going on. After obtaining the commercial mortgage there were problems in the conveyancing of the property we had set our eyes on. All though beyond the scope of their service Stewart Hindley kept in touch with us and relevant parties, they did everything they could to help us to get this sorted. And in the end, all came right and we are now the proud owners of The Gables Whisky B&B. Carol, thank you so much for everything, we could not have realised our dream without you!
Kind regards,
Anne Jan & Siebette