INTERVIEW
AT THE TOP OF THE OAK TREE SANDY FRASER OWNS
THE OAK TREE INN, BALMAHA, A BAR AND RESTAURANT WITH 36 ROOMS. JASON CADDY CHATTED WITH HIM AT A SAFE DISTANCE TO FIND OUT HOW THE BUSINESS HAS ADAPTED TO COVID-19, AND WHAT HE THINKS THE FUTURE HOLDS FOR A HOSPITALITY BUSINESS THAT WAS HUGELY DEPENDENT ON FOREIGN TOURISM.
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andy and Lucy Fraser are at the top of the tree that is the family-run Oak Tree Inn at Balmaha, on the beautiful east side of Loch Lomond. Son Stuart is a partner and their other children are also involved in a business that employs 100 people across the Oak Tree, its accommodation, village shop, coffee shop in Aberfoyle, plus a newly opened food and coffee drive-thru pop-up in what used to be The Carbeth Inn. Sandy also runs an electrical business. A 36–room total offering is made up of nine rooms in The Oak Tree, six holiday cottages, and two purpose-built holiday pods – self-contained rooms with their own en suite facilities. Customers tend mainly to buy individual rooms within the cottages but they are able to block book an entire cottage. They range from four, five, and six bedrooms and some have balconies and they are all within close proximity to the Oak Tree Inn hub and its dining facilities. Sandy reopened a very different business on July of 15th after lockdown forced the business to close down on the 24th of March resulting in all 100 staff being furloughed – apart from Sandy and Stuart. He explained, “Since we reopened, 99 per cent of our business is now coming from the Scottish central belt, London, the English midlands and north. We have lost virtually all of our foreign tourist trade, and International as well as domestic tourists made up a lot of our accommodation business, both of which have declined. “Our business as a whole is down 40 to 50% I’d say, and although we are very grateful and aware of all the support that we have had, we are heading into another very dark winter. “It’s very hard to say what is going to happen immediately once the English
school holidays are over and tourists start to thin out in September. We are being very proactive and targeted with our online marketing for our accommodation to try and mitigate any more losses.” Walkers along the West Highland Way used to make up a huge part of their overnight custom, again, until Covid-19 tore into this business too. Explained Sandy, “On a normal year, 100,000 people walk the West Highland Way which runs past here and that itself is ready-made business for us. “But they are no longer coming out in anywhere near this number because there simply isn’t enough accommodation on offer at the moment.” Time was, dozens of daily coach trips would likewise pull up right outside The Oak Tree, but the road to Balmaha is far quieter now. Explained Sandy, “We used to enjoy 10 to 20 coaches a day coming mainly from Edinburgh, but we also got them from Glasgow and Perth, and they were full of international tourists. “This business has completely disappeared. It’s fair to say that they brought day-trippers who weren’t necessarily using our accommodation but what they did do was supplement our quiet times during the day as well as showcase what we offered accommodation-wise should they wish to return in the future. “ The Oak Tree’s business was also hit hard by Forest Holiday’s caravan and camping club at Cashel - also on the east side of the Loch - being shut for the entire season. This would normally have fed business into their hotel, restaurant and village shop. Sandy was keen to point out how much the financial lifelines thrown by the government have helped – but he wants them to go further. He said, “The decision
