First impressions

The exterior of the hotel needs work. It currently looks at best run down and at worst closed. Until recently that reflected the actual state of the place pretty accurately but with our renovation of the bedrooms and public area entering its final stages we need to make improvements to what the visitors see as they approach.

What do they see at present?

The building is dark because the floodlights aren't working. That's temporary but it adds to the closed feeling. The front windows are dark because the rooms at the front are not in use and the lettering is falling to pieces.

So, you say. Why not just give it a lick of paint and some new lettering? Well, it's not that simple. Because it's a listed building we have to have paint colours, lettering and lighting approved both by Borders Council and Historic Scotland. I want to change the lighting - there are currently two big floodlights which light up the wall and nothing else.

Surprisingly the council approves of the kind of lights I want - small floodlights above the lettering. But we still need to submit pictures of what they look like. Then we have to get the front of the building scaffolded and while we're doing that we may as well get any roof repairs done.

We're going to close during November to get the remainder of the rewiring and redecoration of the bedrooms done. Once we've worked out how much money we have left we can decide whether or not to go ahead with the front.

Meanwhile it's been a truly crap week. I mean absolutely rubbish, About three hotel guests and not many more bar customers. Tonight is relatively busy and we hope tomorrow will go some way to making up for it.