Old Course Hotel in St Andrews to close from today

The Old Course Hotel in St Andrews is the latest five-star hotel to close due to increased coronavirus restrictions.

The luxury venue, which is situated next to the famous golf course in the Fife town, said that all of its bars, restaurants and spa facilities would close from today, as well as the hotel itself.

The hotel’s golf course, the Duke’s Course, will remain open.

The closure comes just days after Gleneagles Hotel said it would close until the end of January. Fife, as well as Perth and Kinross, where Gleneagles is situated, was moved into level three lockdown last week, amid rising cases in the area. The change means that restaurants and bars cannot serve alcoholic drinks with or without a meal and must close by 6pm – although hotels can serve food to guests in their rooms until 10pm.

The Old Course Hotel is to close from today.

The business said in a statement. “All of us at Old Course Hotel, Golf Resort & Spa really appreciate our guests and our community for helping to make the last few months enjoyable and safe.

"We are committed to the health and safety of our guests, staff, and the public, so we will be temporarily closing the Old Course Hotel from Monday 16th November. This includes hotel bars and restaurants, Kohler Waters Spa, the Pro Shop, Jigger Inn and Hams Hame.

"This is a very difficult decision for us to make, but under the current Tier 3 Covid-19 restrictions … we believe it is the right thing to do.

"We look forward to welcoming everyone back as soon as we can. In the meantime, The Duke’s Golf Course and Clubhouse, and the Fitness Centre will remain open with Covid-19 cleaning protocols and social distancing measures in place.”

It added: “We will continue to monitor updates and follow guidelines from the Scottish Government and will keep our guests and staff informed as the situation evolves. Thank you for your patience, understanding and support during this time of unprecedented uncertainty.”

Marc Crothall, chief executive of the Scottish Tourism Alliance said: “Closures across Scotland’s tourism sector have accelerated at a significant rate, particularly over the last week; the costs of remaining open and providing a total experience in line with customer expectations, with current limitations and uncertainty are simply too high. Grant support is the lifeline needed urgently to maintain solvency for most businesses in our sector and we are pleased that this is recognised at the highest level.

"The STA met with the First Minister last Wednesday to discuss the support needs for the sector and stressed that while furlough is a welcome support, the level of grant support offered so far to the sector is a considerable distance from what in reality is needed to enable businesses to remain solvent and bounce back when we move out of the crisis. We are hopeful that more detail on potential supplementary grants for our tourism sector and the supply chain which must not be forgotten about, will be forthcoming within the coming days.”

​The hotel, which has 144 rooms including 35 suites, overlooks the famous links courses and the West Sands Beach. The venue said that anyone with an existing booking for November would be contacted by staff.

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