FEATURE
COSTLEY & COSTLEY BILL AND CATH COSTLEY
Former chef Bill and his wife started the business in 1988, when they bought their first venue, the Highgrove House Hotel, in Troon, Ayrshire. Since then they have expanded their portfolio to include nine award-winning hotels, restaurants and Patisseries. Bill, a former chairman of Kilmarnock Football Club, is passionate about art and also a keen artist himself. A Master Chef at 21 and the first Scot to win a gold medal at the Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, he prides himself on attention to detail. Costley & Costley is very much a family-run business, with the couple’s son, Andrew, working alongside them as Executive Head Chef. Bill is always eager to nurture talent, develop new ideas and skills and keep Ayrshire at the forefront of the hospitality industry in Scotland.The group’s motto – Ad Virtutem Nitens,
which means ‘the pursuit of excellence’ – is inscribed on the gates of their flagship five-star venue, Lochgreen House in Troon, as a constant reminder of their daily endeavour to exceed the expectations of each guest. Plans for expansion include extending Lochgreen to include luxury Spa treatment rooms, with the first phase opening in May 2017, and the ‘wet’ side of things to follow, with further developments of a function suite and more bedrooms, to accommodate the growing demand for a complete luxury hotel experience. The Brig o’ Doon House Hotel, with its iconic setting in Robert Burns country, has also undergone some recent refurbishments. Today the hotel group has 68 bedrooms, employs more than 350 staff and turnover last year was £14 million.
MANORVIEW HOTEL AND LEISURE GROUP STEVE GRAHAM
Steve started out in his family’s fairground business, like his father and grandfather before him, and believes the discipline and hard work it instilled in him are key to his success today. He moved into property development at 30, before founding the family-run Manorview Group in 2007, with his first venue, The Commercial Hotel in Wishaw, Lanarkshire. Ten years on the Manorview family has grown to a total of 16 licensed trade properties, comprising nine hotels (149 bedrooms), five pubs and two nightclubs with a total staff of over 500. The group has a reputation for restoring old buildings, and giving them a new lease of life through ambitious refurbishments. A year ago it opened Boclair House Hotel in Bearsden following a £3 million transformation of former council offices and most recently it unveiled a new look Grand Ballroom at Cornhill Castle near Biggar which was purchased last year. This is phase one of a £750,000 investment which will see the addition of new bedrooms and a state-of-theart honeymoon suite. The iconic Star
& Garter Hotel in Linlithgow, West Lothian became hotel number nine last year and the group’s Busby Hotel in Clarkston, Glasgow, was named Wedding Venue of the Year at the 2016 Vows Awards. Despite its growth, the Group retains a family-run feel - Steve’s son, Carlton, is Group Operations Manager, while his niece Fallon Cowley is Group Operations Director and her husband, Andrew, is Property Development Director. Fallon’s sister, Fawn Findlay, is Group Weddings and Events Manager. Together they adopt a hands-on, collaborative approach with the aim of delivering the highest quality service for customers and creating a positive working environment for their “extended family” of staff. The group promotes an ethos of “giving something back”, a philosophy encouraged by CEO Steve, which emanates throughout the company. All venues and staff engage with chosen charities, participate in fundraising, and look for ways to support their local communities. Total turnover for the year to 31 March 2016 for the entire Group was £15.8 million. APRIL 2017 • HOTEL SCOTLAND • 19