By Scott Wright
AN Aberdeen-based hospitality group has signalled its determination to bounce back “even mightier” after securing funds to tide it over the lockdown.
The McGinty’s Group, which has nine venues in the Granite City, has secured a six-figure funding deal under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). The loan, provided by Royal Bank of Scotland, will allow the business to safeguard jobs, premises and to pay suppliers.
McGinty’s, which formed in 2009, has more than 270 employees, but staff are currently on furlough while the outlets remain closed under lockdown measures to halt the spread of the virus. Bosses pledged their commitment to ensuring employees’ jobs are kept open for them.
Director Allan Henderson said: “Our income has been completely wiped out during this pandemic, but it is vital to keep the cogs turning to ensure the economy, our staff and suppliers can be sheltered from its impact. We’ve banked with Royal Bank of Scotland for over a decade and it’s always been a great partnership, but I was impressed with how quickly they were able to turn the CBILS loan around.”
The company’s outlets include McGinty’s Meal an’ Ale, The Silver Darling and The Esslemont, developed in the former Esslemont and Macintosh department store on Aberdeen’s Union Street.
Martin Ramsay, relationship director at Royal Bank of Scotland, said: “The McGinty’s Group has been with us since it was founded, and it’s been great to support the company’s growth over the past decade. The CBILS loan has been vital in keeping its operations afloat, and I look forward to supporting the business with a strong recovery in the coming months.”
Business leaders this week welcomed the expansion of the CBILS scheme, which now offers loans of up to £200m, up from £50m. The loans are provided by banks, with the government providing guarantees for 80 per cent of the finance.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here