So, that's the end of our first year

...and what a great year it's been...

Time to take stock

Time to think ahead

Time to wonder

10 things we know now that we didn't know then. (in no particular order)

1) Most guests stay for one night.

2) Glenlivet is a very poor seller

3) Dylon stain pens are amazing

4) Drunk people are not very interesting

5) The function room wall is about to fall down

6) Black pudding and sliced haggis can be cooked from frozen

7) We need another microwave

8) I'm not very good at planning

9) Tennents lager outsells all other draught products

10) VAT is a nuisance

What have we achieved?

One year ago the Spread Eagle Hotel was, to all intents, closed. There was a public bar run more as a private club than a bar. The hotel didn't accept guests, the kitchen was unused. The roof leaked, there was dry rot rampaging in the dining room.


In our first year, the hotel has achieved around 20% occupancy which was our aim.

A new heating system has replaced the ancient and ludicrously expensive 1920s system.

We've engagaed a project manager to overseen the restoration.

We've built a new beer garden which has been much admired (and much used in the warm weather)

The dry rot has been treated

Most of the roof now doesn't leak:-/

The planning application was submitted in August and met with favourable comment from the community council at least. There have been no objections.


In the next 12 months we intend to...

Refurbish both kitchens
Begin serving food in the rooms which are currently the lounge bar and tv room
Create two new bedrooms in the rooms at the top of the main stair
Create a suite half way up the main stair (to be used by us in the medium term)
Replace the main stair railings
Turn the current room 9 into an office
Improve the toilets on the first floor
Stabilise the derelict outbuildings
Improve the decor
Increase our customer base

Best thing we've done in the last 12 months: Appointed JDI of Nottingham as our project managers.
Worst thing we've done in the last 12 months: Employed Roofing Direct of Edinburgh.

Twelve months ago neither of us had any experience of running a hotel, bar, or indeed any kind of business. The learning curve has threatened to become an overhang in places, but by and large we've survived. Bills have been paid, most forms have been submitted on time and we have kept stock levels to a minimum yet haven't run out of anything major.

What if?
Some other places we might have bought:

The Colquhonnie Hotel in Aberdeenshire. I have a feeling that this wouldn't have been a great succes. It was a nice place and the only hotel in the village, but there wasn't a lot of passing trade and it was very isolated.

The Urr Valley Hotel would have been a bad idea for the opposite reason. It was very busy and we would have been thrown in at the deep end. The building was huge and rambling and needed a lot of upgrading.

The Ecclefechan hotel would have been an unmitigated disaster. It needed a huge amount of work and there was little in the way of tourist trade. The town was bypassed and had the feel of a ghost town. Location, location location. This place didn't have it.

So does Jedburgh have it? Well, it's been a truly horrible day; dank and wet, but we've got 6 folk staying and the bar takings have been excellent for a Monday. There's a lot of passing traffic and above all it's a nice town on the tourist trail with plenty of good restaurants. Yes, I think it does.

It's four minutes to midnight. Almost exactly one year ago we became the owners of the Spread Eagle Hotel. It's been an interesting first year and promises to be an even more interesting second.

It's been fun...

... in places

And so to bed.