MACHRIE HOTEL AND GOLF COURSE - Famous Scottish links in administration

(FROM THE HERALDSCOTLAND.COM WEBSITE at http://www.heraldscotland.com/ )

By David Ross, Highland Correspondent

A world-renowned Scottish links golf course and hotel has gone into administration but hopes are high that a new buyer can be found before the start of the vital tourist season.

The Machrie Hotel and Golf Course on Islay is currently closed with 15 of the 18 employees having been made redundant.

The three remaining staff will assist the administrators in looking after the facilities and the maintenance of the golf course.

Machrie is on the south-west of the island, three-and-a-half miles from Port Ellen.

The par-71 course was designed by Willie Campbell, of Musselburgh (pictured right), in 1891 before he emigrated to the US to design other prestigious courses.

When he first saw the land proposed for the course he was reported as saying it was “the best ground for a golf course that I have ever had the pleasure of viewing.”

It is one of Scotland’s oldest and most traditional links courses and has been named as one of the top 100 courses in the world, but is often confused with the nine-hole Machrie Bay on Arran.

The hotel and golf course was bought in 2004 by Graham Ferguson Lacey, an Isle of Man-based businessman, and others.

Mr Ferguson Lacey, who also owns the Isle of Man’s largest hotel company and its premier golf club, had plans for a significant expansion for Machrie.

However, it is understood that the economic downturn, along with reports of water supply problems at Machrie, have led to serious financial problems.

Blair Nimmo and Tony Friar of KPMG have been appointed joint administrators of Machrie Hotel and Golf Links Ltd and its associated property company Mendougal 21 Ltd.

Mendougal owns the Machrie Hotel and Golf Course, while Machrie Hotel and Golf Links Ltd operates the hotel and golf course. The group’s assets also include land for further development.

The hotel has 16 bedrooms, 15 separate self-catering lodges and on-site restaurant and retail facilities.

Blair Nimmo said yesterday: “Both the hotel and golf course have excellent reputations and are regarded as destination venues for visitors to Islay. Despite this, Machrie Hotel and Golf Links has unfortunately, like many other companies in the tourism and hospitality sector, been impacted from tightening consumer spending and troubled economic conditions.

“Taking Islay’s prominence as a tourist hot spot into account with its high number of whisky distilleries and other attractions, we are optimistic a buyer will be found for this quite excellent facility.”

The full story is in todays Herald newspaper