‘I wouldn’t open another restaurant’
Restaurateur David Ramsden has worked in the sector for 40 years and ran The Dogs restaurant on Edinburgh’s Hanover Street for ten years until the company went into liquidation earlier this year.
The restaurant remains open under new owners.
His previous ventures, Amore Dogs, the Underdogs and Seadogs, all closed a number of years ago. He still runs wine bar the Fat Pony on the city’s Bread Street.
“There are a number of factors which have been a ‘perfect storm’ in recent years. In Edinburgh, one of the main factors is the sheer number of pop-up things all over the city – it is kicking the life out of the independent places who are established and paying rates.
“Then, the core of the ‘London sector’, as we call them in the industry, opened on St Andrew Square last year. We noticed the effect immediately, on 15 December last year, it was pretty much an accident waiting to happen.
“On a good day, the effect on our trade would be 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent, on a bad day, we could be 15 to 20 per cent down.
“The chains and the big boys offer higher salaries because they are subsidised by the more successful businesses in their core area of the southeast of England and independent restaurants can’t compete.
“This year has been the worst year I can remember in terms of weather. When you have a hot summer, people do not want to eat indoors, they prefer to be al fresco. I wouldn’t open another restaurant.”