Hootananny gets approval to turn rock venue Mad Hatters and second floor bar into tourist accommodation
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Plans for new tourist accommodation at a city centre music bar and restaurant have been approved by Highland Council officials.
The owners of Hootananny, in Church Street, have been granted listed building consent to turn the first floor Mad Hatters rock bar and second floor Glow Bar into seven up-market bedrooms.
The business is taking the decision in response to changing trends in the hospitality industry and the boom in demand for rooms fuelled by the North Coast 500 tourist route and other initiatives.
Owner of the multi-award winning live music venue Kit Fraser has previously given guarantees that the ground floor bar, renowned for live traditional music performances, will continue as before.
An application for a change to its premises licence will is on the agenda of the Highland Licensing Board which meets this Tuesday.
The board will decide on whether to approve a proposed change to the operating hours from 11am-3am daily to 11am-1am Sunday-Wednesday and 11am-2am Thursday-Saturday. It also wants children to be allowed to access the premises until 10pm while accompanied by a "responsible adult" and for "young persons" to be given access unaccompanied for meals and non-alcoholic drinks at management discretion until 10pm, before needing to be with an adult. But for private events it wants children and young persons to be allowed there for the duration at management discretion.
It also wants the venues capacity to show as 220.
Highland Council's licensing standards officer said: "Hootananny is a well-established licensed premises situated within the city centre of Inverness. A premises licence has been held since 2009.
"The premises are well run and compliant with all aspects of alcohol licensing.
"Previously the premises have operated on three stories, with the upper two levels being reserved for late hours operation, specialising in live musical entertainment. The operators have now decided to cease using the upper two stories for licensed usage and alterations have commenced to convert them to accommodation. Accordingly, the licensed premises will now comprise solely the ground floor bar area and seating, complete with a mezzanine floor; there is also an outside drinking area accessed via the bar area.
"Within this ground floor area, is a dedicated stage area for live entertainment and a small dance floor, thereby still qualifying the premises for late hours."
A design and access statement produced for Hootananny explained that the previous use of the top two floors had become “commercially unsustainable”.
It said: “They were only open for two nights a week and did not earn enough to cover the costs of staffing, so a new sustainable use was needed for the top two floors of Hootananny. There is currently a thriving market for tourist accommodation in Inverness with the explosion of interest in the North Coast 500 and other initiatives driving yearly increases in visitor numbers to the Highlands.
“The conversion of these currently unused upper floors of the Hootananny pub will offer a small number of good quality ensuite rooms to visitors who are keen to stay in an authentic Georgian building in the heart of Inverness, above one of the centres of live Scottish traditional music.
“The proposals offer a commercially viable lease of life to this beautiful listed building, giving it a sustainable future.”
Part of the work would involve investment in the building’s fabric, including replacing dilapidated sash windows with new conservation standard, double glazed timber sash windows.
Central heating would be installed, powered by a renewable air source heat pump.
New room layouts would be sympathetic to ceiling cornicing, with historic features retained.
Significant work had already been carried out on updating the building to current fire regulation standards.
Efforts had been made to ensure that hallways and bedrooms would be "generously proportioned" to promote ease of access, although it had proved impossible to include a lift in the design and create a wheelchair friendly room.
