Weather warnings creating ‘added stress’ for hospitality operators

Hospitality operators are facing wintery conditions with concerns over whether guests and staff will be able to travel.

Temperatures in some areas have dropped below zero and the Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice for parts of northern and southern England, and the north and west of Scotland.

Judith Fish, owner of the Applecross Inn in Strathcarron, northwest Scotland, closed the inn for two weeks over Christmas and New Year but is reopening today with seven guests booked in to stay later in the week.

“I am making calls to see will they or won’t they make it,” she said.

Fish said she was worried about poor driving conditions on Scotland’s two main roads to the northwest of the country, the A82 and A9, and questioned whether customers, many who come from Glasgow and Edinburgh, would make the journey with snow and ice warnings.

ScotRail has also reported disruption to rail travel in many parts of Scotland due to wintery conditions.

Travel isn’t only a concern for guests; three of Fish’s staff members are due to resume work today, but two made it as far as Fort William yesterday, while the third is travelling from Yorkshire. “Safety for my staff comes first, though,” she said.

While guests’ arrivals are uncertain, Fish said she has enough food and drink supplies for customers after the “superstars” from Inverness foodservice firm Williamson Foodservice arrived early yesterday morning with fresh produce.

But, like many operators, she hopes the inn will be able to make use of the supplies. The restaurant management firm, Tenzo, reported that businesses see a drop in sales of between 10% and 40% when snowstorms occur.

The Old Forge in Inverie in west Scotland, which claims to be the most remote pub in mainland Britain, has no roads in or out of the village so customers either walk or take a boat to the pub, while supplies are delivered by boat and plane.

The Inn’s business development manager, Stephanie Harris, said given most of their deliveries come by sea, weather warnings placed “added stress” on the pub.

Harris said ferry disruption over the new year had led to “a number of cancellations over from visitors who were unable to get to us”.

Further south, the Tan Hill Inn in North Yorkshire, which is Britain’s highest pub at 528 metres above sea level, has been housing around 30 people due to snow since Saturday.

It isn’t the first time the pub has sheltered pub-goers and guests from bad weather as more than 60 customers were trapped in the Inn for three nights in December 2021.

While it is a stressful time working with difficult weather, Fish joked that if the inn is snowed in, “it may be a bit like the Shining… but without the horror”.