Fife Arms a 'game changer' for local business as Braemar hotel celebrates five-year anniversary
Residents in Braemar have said they would not be in business if it wasn’t for the Fife Arms Hotel, which has just celebrated five years since reopening.
With Picasso and Lucian Freud paintings adorning the walls, the five-star boutique accommodation, owned by millionaire art dealers Iwan and Manuela Wirth, took some getting used to for the Aberdeenshire village after the hotel officially reopened in 2019.
Tourism was nothing new for the area, with it being situated in the Cairngorms National Park and having Balmoral down the road. But residents said the up-market hotel and its guests had encouraged new business ideas to the area.
Annie Armstrong founded Wild Braemar two years ago, which involves taking visitors out for hikes and wild swimming.
The 28-year-old has just finished building a sauna to boost the experience on her guided tours, and is taking on her first employee this summer because business is going well.
Speaking to The Scotsman, Ms Armstrong said: “I wouldn’t be running my business if it wasn’t for the Fife [Arms]. I came to Braemar all the time growing up and know all the walks around here and the secret spots and have wanted to show them to people.
"When the hotel guests started arriving, I realised there was no one doing nature-based guiding with easy low-level short walks for people who had never been here before and who wanted to learn about Scotland’s wildlife, so I set this up.
"It was the Fife Arms bringing people here that meant I could start my own business here. In most places, you can’t make a living off activities like wild swimming and nature walks, but here I can.”
Ms Armstrong said the hotel had also had a positive impact on the village’s demographic, and encouraged younger people to stay in the community.
"When I was younger, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to move here because there were a lot of retired people,” she said. "But with the hotel employing over 100 staff, with a mix of ages including people in their 20s and 30s, it brings a bit more a vibrant atmosphere to the village.”
Braemar, however, is not immune to the housing crisis being felt across the country.
Ms Armstrong said accommodation options were severely limited, with many people who had moved to the village for work having to live further out.
"I am concerned that I won’t be able to afford a home here despite having a business here that’s going well,” she said. Her comments come as a new report by the Competition and Markets Authority found there were “persistent shortfalls” in the number of homes built across the UK.
The report said Scotland had failed to deliver on housebuilding over “successive decades”.
The UK's competition regulator suggested new powers for local councils to boost the number of new homes to combat the housing crisis, and warned too few houses were being built in areas in which they were most needed, which was having a "negative effect" on affordability.
The Fife Arms employs drivers to ferry staff several times a day between Braemar and other nearby villages and towns, including Ballater and Aboyne, where the company owns staff accommodation. It is understood the Invercauld Arms in Braemar, also owned by the Wirths, will be turned into self-catering units partly to attract a different market, but also because of a lack of accommodation to house more staff.
Meanwhile, parking in Braemar has also become a bone of contention for the community since the reopening of the Fife Arms.
Aberdeenshire Council provides 31 free spaces and three disabled spaces at the Balnellan Road Car Park. It also provides 18 free spaces (unmarked), two free bus spaces and three disabled spaces at the village’s Mews Car Park.
Some residents have claimed the hotel has failed to arrange its own parking set-up as per its original plans, which they said included valet parking, and that free, public spaces were filled by guests or staff at the hotel.
A council spokesperson said: “Parking is available to all in Braemar – both residents and visitors – and in addition to our car parks at Balnellan Road and the Mews, there is signage which directs visitors to additional parking outwith the centre of the village.”
While the grandeur of the Fife Arms has caused a divide in the Aberdeenshire village, community council chairman Brian Wood said the hotel had “set a standard” for the area and encouraged businesses to up their game.
"At the time it was taken over, the hotel was run by a coaching company and it was really working to the lower budget end of the market and dragging everything down,” said the now retired head teacher, who used to work at the Fife Arms under its previous ownership.
“The prospect of having that and the Invercauld Arms – these two big hotels in a small village – badly in need of repair was awful. The Fife has set the standard.
"The fact someone has invested so much money in a business here will give other businesses the confidence to invest as well.”
Neil Menzies, who owns N.G Menzies Butchers in the village, said the area had become noticeably busier when it came to customers.
The butcher, who supplies the Fife Arms, said: "When I first started a few years ago, the village was dead. It was OK if the skiing nearby was busy, but it was really quiet here.
"The owners are keen to use local suppliers, which I think has been a positive for the village.”
Simon Blackett, who runs Yellow Welly Tours in Braemar, said: "Without the hotel, many of the businesses here wouldn’t work like they do now, and there would be very little work as there wouldn’t be any jobs. It really has been a game changer.”
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