Why Nick Nairn has taken the 'very sad' decision to close Bridge of Allan restaurant

Nick Nairn has announced the closure of his Bridge of Allan restaurant, Nairn’s. In a statement the chef, who ran the restaurant with his wife Julia, said: “Many in the hospitality industry continue to struggle and recover post-Covid.

“For Nairn’s, the added trauma of a fire and prolonged closure period, coupled with our return to business in the midst of the cost of living crisis has created the perfect storm.

“Additionally, in 2019 and pre-Covid, we entered into a management agreement with a third party, when hospitality was still buoyant.

“Sadly, what was once reasonable is now unaffordable, all of these factors mean the business is no longer viable.

"Nick’s at Port of Menteith restaurant remains in operation, alongside Nick Nairn Cook School, the kitchen garden and retail space, many of our staff members will transfer to Port of Menteith and will continue to offer outstanding food and service."

Nairn's Bridge of Allan has now closed | John Devlin

Nairn’s opened as Nick’s in early 2020 after the couple took over the former Jam Jar restaurant, but, along with all hospitality businesses had to close due to the Covid restrictions. Then in 2021 the restaurant burnt down after a faulty piece kitchen equipment caused a devastating fire. After a full refurbishment, Nick’s reopened as Nairn’s in July 2023. At the time of reopening Nick said: “We took the decision, after the fire, to keep on the senior guys in our team as we genuinely believed we’d be open after six months and it’s been two years. So it has been a long and expensive couple of years. We’ve benefitted hugely from the team around us.”

2021 also saw a flood at Nick’s cook school, which also reopened in 2023 after a refurbishment. The team refurbished it as a restaurant, which was kept as Nick said: “it surpassed our most optimistic projections of what we could do here.”

Speaking to The Scotsman at the time of reopening the cook school, Nick said: “The cook school is where my heart is. I started doing this in the 90s at Braeval. Every Wednesday, once a week, we had 12 people in the kitchen, we demonstrated lunch then we went and had lunch. It was a tiny kitchen, the person next to the door had to open it from time to time to let the smoke out. It was very basic but I got a really good vibe from it. People had never really seen behind the scenes at a restaurant, there was always this barrier between the kitchen and the front of house.”

Customers have taken to social media to react to Nairn’s closing with one calling it "Very sad news indeed."