Wetherspoon ditches Drummond Arms plan

Oct 28 2011 by Denis Brown, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

MEGA pub chain JD Wetherspoon has ditched plans to buy the historic Drummond Arms Hotel in Crieff.

However, the company, which is pushing ahead with new sites in Stirling and Blairgowrie, has confirmed it is will now explore alternative sites in the tourist-magnet town.

As the PA revealed earlier this month, the drink and meals deal giant had set its sights on the once-grand building which shut over six years ago.

It was believed that the estimated £2 million renovation costs plus up to £450,000 sale price for Bonnie Prince Charlie’s old watering hole might be small fry to Wetherspoon.

But JD’s bean counters – presently rolling out a £250 million expansion project to top up 55 Scottish sites and 810 pubs across the UK – disagreed.

“We were very interested in the Drummond Arms, very keen on having a site in the town, but we did our homework, did our sums, and it just didn’t add up,” said Wetherspoon representative Eddie Gershon.

“It was the overall cost really and the size of the project, so the scheme at the Drummond just didn’t work as a Wetherspoon pub, which is very disappointing to us.”

Having revised a policy of only setting up in towns of at least 10,000 inhabitants, the company is exploring smaller towns, with representatives, including a surveyor, conducting several inspections of the Drummond.

But Mr Gershon stressed that Wetherspoon remained “extremely keen” on moving into Crieff.

“We have no other building or site on our radar as all our attention was focused on the Drummond, so in a way we’ll have to start afresh,” he said.

“Having expressed interest in the town, we will follow through.”

Once synonymous with converting defunct churches, banks or post offices, JD looks at a wider mix – the Blairgowrie site is an old Woolworths – and would spend at least £1 million “bringing them up to scratch”.

News that a deal was off came as no surprise to former Drummond proprietor and Scottish Licensed Trade Association president and local community council acting chair, Angus MacDonald.

Now running Crieff’s Arduthie House, he owned the Drummond on and off for a total of 37 years but sold it to Swallow Hotels over six years ago and is now acting caretaker for the James Square icon.

“I’m not surprised at all, given the amount of investment needed, but as far as the community council is concerned, it’s very disappointing news as it’s a derelict building in the centre of town,” he said.

He said controversial Glasgow-based hotelier Sohan Singh, who bought the Drummond after Swallow went into liquidation, still might revamp the hotel but only if the economy recovered.

And he was also doubtful about Wetherspoon finding a suitable alternative Crieff site, which would mean the town may miss out on up to 45 new jobs.

Not so upset about Wetherspoon abandoning its Drummond Arms plans were the town’s publicans.

Meadow Inn and Caledonian Bar co-licensee Carole-Ann Hopkins said it was unfortunate as the Drummond would remain in limbo, but good news for publicans.

“Wetherspoon do tend to cause quite a few problems for small independent pubs who simply can’t compete with their cheap prices as we can’t buy product at the price they can,” she said.

Pretoria Bar licensee Stephen Rodger, who predicted the Goliath newcomer would put a squeeze on watering holes already struggling due to the recession, smoking ban and rising costs, said he had mixed feelings.

“In a way it’s good news for the likes of me but it’s bad news in that something needs to be done about the Drummond,” he said.

“It’s in a hell of a state and it will take someone with a strong heart and deep pockets to get it going again.”