Dingwall institution Batty’s Baps unveils new home - and unique calling card
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The growing demand of locals and visitors has prompted a big move for a Dingwall High Street institution after the ever-popular Batty’s Baps relocated because they were turning away custom.
The cafe, sandwich bar and catering service has now relocated to the former William Hill bookies and is proving to be a great success already as the cafe has already had to buy new tables because of the demand.
Driven forward by proprietor Pamela ‘Batty’ Mackenzie, the hope is that the cafe has found its forever home.
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It had previously been located as part of the Legion. The space nwas small but gave Batty’s Baps the ideal start, something for which she remains grateful.
But now after two weeks of intensive work customers are pouring through the doors.
It also comes replete with its very own bat-sign carved out of slate by the award winning local slater Gary McIntrye – but locals did not need a bat signal to descend on new premises, as Ms Mackenzie explained.
“It is going fantastic, the vibe is great,” she said. “The first three days were full so some people were having to leave and then come back to get a seat so we have another four tables that have just arrived in the back store, waiting to be built. So we have quadrupled our space compared to the Legion already.
“We can probably fit about 30 at the moment and we are seeing the same faces and a lot of new faces, because a lot of people didn’t walk that far up the street if they were parked nearby so they didn’t realise we have been established for 10 years.
“The regulars are delighted with the place, they love it. They love the openness but they are missing the Batty’s craic because I am stuck in the kitchen so – believe it or not – they are missing me.
“Every opportunity I get I come out to see everyone because customer service is a huge part of it.”
Describing what prompted the move, she said: “It was probably when the winter started when we were turning customers away – we just didn't have enough seats so we needed a bigger premises and that is when we started to look.
“We are very grateful to the Legion, that was seven years we were there for but we just outgrew the place – this us for life, after three years we will have the opportunity to buy so we will look at that.
“A lot of people didn’t realise the last place was table service so now you can see that you can sit down, you have the table, the girls come to you.
“The amount of tourists that we have in Dingwall – they need fed, they need watered – so the more options for them, the more they're going to stay in Dingwall and the more they are going to come back to Dingwall.”
The work to get ready frequently saw Ms Mackenzie observing nocturnal working habits as much as the Batty of her nickname by putting in 18 and 19 hour days.
She said: “So we moved out the Legion, two weeks, two weeks, and I was pretty constant workers every day. I was providing the lunches out at Serimax, finished there at 3pm, came down here and worked until half 12 in the morning, back up at 5am and out to Serimax Santa Max. We do the in-house catering there.
“Gary McIntyre who is a great friend of ours who is behind all the designs that people have seen on slate roofs, which he won a big award for down in London, he approached us.
“He asked if we would like to display his work and he recreated the bat just for us and we will display some of his work because of the local connection, people looking out for one another – that is the way it should be in Dingwall.”
