Scotsman Obituaries: John Stewart Spence MBE, consummate host who attracted the great and the good to his Scottish hotels

John Stewart Spence MBE, hotelier. Born: 28 May, 1947 in Aberdeen. Died: 23 January, 2025 in Banchory, aged 77

From Taylor and Burton to Trump, rock stars to royalty, Stewart Spence moved among the elite with the easy confidence of a consummate host.

He served movie stars on the Champs-Elysees, dined with US President Donald Trump in New York and persuaded former Soviet Union president Mikhail Gorbachev to officially open his five-star hotel on the edge of Aberdeen.

Yet, while he mixed with some of the biggest names of the last century, he could often be found, gravy boat in hand, doling out the finishing touches to dishes in the kitchen or standing at the pass checking the plates met his exacting standards. An absolute stickler for detail, he was a perfectionist for whom striving for impeccable service meant everything.

Stewart Spence - pictured with his dog Millie - ensured every guest received a warm welcome, no matter their status in life

It was sheer determination and an indefatigable work ethic that took him from a relatively humble start in hospitality to a visionary whose impact on the industry stretched far beyond Scotland.

Born in Aberdeen, to Hilda and John, who worked in insurance, he had an elder sister Judy and younger sister Pat. As a very young child he displayed an early sense of adventure when he and a pal pedalled their tricycles from the family home in the west end to the busy city centre, where he was found peering down from a bridge at the trains more than 30ft below.

Known as Stewart – his mother’s maiden name – rather than John, his passion for hospitality stemmed from a summer job at his aunt’s hotel, the Invercauld in Ballater, as a teenager. Aged 15, he left Robert Gordon’s College in Aberdeen to work as a waiter and trainee chef at the city’s Station Hotel. Moving to Paris in 1965, he was a barman and waiter at the world-renowned Fouquet’s on the Champs-Elysees, serving the stars of the day including Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

Back in the UK, he worked at London’s Great Northern Hotel, returning to Aberdeen a year later, in 1968, as assistant manager at the Treetops Hotel and later as general manager of the Commodore Hotel in Stonehaven.

He bought his first hotel, The Atholl in Aberdeen, in 1972 and went on to own several more in the city, along with the Capitol Restaurant and Invery House in Banchory.

Spence’s greatest legacy, however, is the Marcliffe at Pitfodels. He bought the original Marcliffe Hotel in Queen’s Terrace in 1979 and moved it four years later to Queens Road as the New Marcliffe. In 1993 it relocated to a site at Pitfodels where he fulfilled his vision to create a prestigious five-star facility, officially opened by Gorbachev when he received the Freedom of Aberdeen. The hotel attracted stars including Sharon Stone and Charlton Heston, politicians from Baroness Margaret Thatcher and Sir John Major to Sir Tony Blair, golfers Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus and musicians Sir Rod Stewart and Robbie Williams. He would google guests before arrival to assess if they were worthy of a photograph atop the hotel’s grand piano, but ultimately treated all as equals, making each feel they were the most important person in the room.

Spence was always ready to charm, so much so that his mother once received a phone call from the housemistress of Albyn School for Girls requesting she keep the youngster in on a Sunday as he was following the boarding girls home.

When Donald Trump wanted to build a controversial links golf course amid dunes at Menie, Balmedie, he wholeheartedly supported the project, recognising its significance for Aberdeen. He received the membership number 001. The only other issued at that time was 007 – to Sean Connery.

Golf was a passion, along with fishing, and a release from the hotel business. A member of several clubs, Spence delighted in winning the Royal Aberdeen Club Championship in 1989. A generous supporter of the game, he sponsored Doug Sanders tournaments and Scottish champion golfers Muriel Thomson and Paul Lawrie, among others, giving the latter a credit card and a car. When Lawrie won the Open Championship he spontaneously headed to the Marcliffe with the Claret Jug. As for fishing, it took him all over the world, from his favourite River Dee at home to Argentina and the Ponoi river in northern Russia.

Spence married Sheila Donald in 1970 and had four children, Jackie who died in 2009, Greg and twins Craig and Ross. The marriage was later dissolved. Ross succeeded his father as managing director of the Marcliffe on his father’s retirement in 2021. The family later sold the hotel but the Spence legacy lives on in the countless young people he mentored throughout his 55-year career and through the recognition of numerous awards, including an honorary degree from Aberdeen University and an MBE for services to tourism in 2015, invested by the late HM Queen Elizabeth II.

He lived latterly at Inchmarlo, Banchory and died eight days after being diagnosed with cancer. He is survived by his sons, sister Pat and partner Maureen.

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