In late summer of last year, one of Scotland’s most high-profile chefs stopped to answer a call on the way to a lunch service at his newly reopened restaurant in Bridge of Allan.

Nick Nairn and his wife, Julia, had overcome a string of well-publicised setbacks including floods, fires and a last-minute bout of vandalism to finally welcome customers back to Nairn’s on Henderson Street just a few weeks before.

Tasked with covering the story, I began our interview anticipating the usual fluffy chat of dishes that would grace their menus, interior design choices or grand plans to revolutionise the local food offering.

While the chef was undoubtedly excited to be back in the game, the conversation quickly pivoted towards one that would ultimately foreshadow the closure of Nairn’s just over one year later.

(Image: Supplied)

 "At the moment, the hospitality industry is not a great place to be,” he said.

“Although this was a reopening, Nairn’s is essentially a brand new business and taking that on is an extremely expensive and time-consuming thing to do. 

“I’ll be honest here and say that financially, it has been a huge stretch.”

The bleak confession seemed at odds with the buzz surrounding the restaurant’s reopening and plans to expand his business portfolio even further with two new retail stores in the following months. 

Still, he continued: “I’ve been trading as a restaurateur for over 35 years, and I’ve never seen a more challenging set of conditions than we have at the moment.

“Times have changed. 

“People used to come to Scotland knowing they would have a fantastic meal or hospitality experience and we had this amazingly vibrant hotel and restaurant economy. 

“That has all changed thanks to this perfect storm of mounting pressures.” 

Last week, Nairn cited this ‘perfect storm’ as the reason behind the closure of the business, as reported exclusively by the Herald.

"Many in the hospitality industry continue to struggle and recover post-Covid,” a statement read.

"For Nairn’s, the added trauma of a fire and a prolonged closure period, coupled with our return to business in the midst of the cost of living crisis has created the perfect storm.

"Additionally, in 2019 and pre-Covid, we entered into a management agreement with a third party,  when hospitality was still buoyant.

“Sadly, what was once reasonable is now unaffordable, all of these factors mean the business is no longer viable."

This is not the first time we’ve heard these sentiments delivered by a high-profile restaurant chef when discussing the rationale for shutting their doors.

Chef Brian Maule pictured at his restaurant   (Image: Newsquest)

Reflecting on the closure of his own restaurant in July, 2023, Brian Maule, who had spent over two decades establishing Le Chardon d'Or as a Glasgow institution which proudly bore his name, also spoke of how it felt to succumb to financial pressures facing the industry.

“We had spent 22 years building our name, so closing was painful, and it took a few months for me to get my head around it all,” he told me in April this year after announcing his new consultancy role with Ayrshire-based group, Buzzworks Holdings.

“It was a shock for a lot of people when we closed, and we were being held up as an example of how things needed to be sorted.

“It’s a good thing that they were having those conversations, but the reality is that people are hanging on and hoping for change that might not come.

“Closing was painful, and I still don’t think I’m actually over it: it’s more about trying to deal with it and move on.”

Nick Nairn and Brian Maule are big names in the world of Scottish food and drink, having earned their reputation through cookbooks, TV appearances or simply undisputable skill and decades of hard graft in the kitchen.

At any other time, this might have been enough to see them through the ebbs and flows in custom that are synonymous with hospitality work.

We could easily speculate as to why this is no longer the case, but with news of some of our most beloved restaurants, bars and cafes breaking almost every day in Scotland it's becoming increasingly obvious that the issue here extends far beyond any individual’s efforts.

Stephen Montgomery of the Scottish Hospitality Group, which represents the interests of hundreds of businesses across the country, said: “We were so sorry to hear of yet another closure in Scotland's hospitality sector, especially with a well-known and experienced operator such as Nick Nairn.

“Unfortunately, we know that there will be more, and this is yet more real-life evidence of the pressures that hospitality businesses face in Scotland."

Only time will tell what lies in store for the wider hospitality industry in Scotland.

For now, the closure of Nairn’s begs the gnawing question: if even someone considered to have been at the forefront of Scotland’s food and drink industry for decades can’t weather this ‘perfect storm’ – then who can?

Following the closure of Nairn’s on Henderson Street in Bridge of Allan, the Nick’s at Port of Menteith restaurant remains in operation, alongside Nick Nairn Cook School.

For more information visit www.nairns.co.uk