14 face jobs threat as Islay distillery closes cafe

One of Islay’s newest distilleries is set to make staff redundant as it has closed its cafe and reduced visitor centre employees.

Ardnahoe Distillery, in the north east of the island, announced it has closed its cafe, citing the economic climate. The move has left 14 staff at risk of redundancy.

The announcement, made via social media, said: “We’re sad to announce our plans to close the café facilities at Ardnahoe Distillery. The staff have given it their all, but like many small, independent family businesses, we’re feeling the effects of the current economic climate that is hitting the hospitality sector particularly hard.

"Our immediate priority is to support our staff as we undergo a consultation period with them on the future for their roles. The rest of the visitor centre, with its public tours and gift shop, would be unaffected by the café’s closure.”

In a redundancy letter, seen by The Scotsman, staff were told while the company was proud of the hard work that had gone into an “excellent new product and the Ardnahoe brand, the visitor centre and, in particular, the food and beverage operation has been consistently loss making”.

Staff will undergo a consultation, with only three visitor centre roles available as part of the scaled-down operations.

A member of staff affected by the announcement, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “This was very sudden. There has been talk of a restructure since August/september time, which dragged on and on.”

Ardnahoe opened in 2019 as the ninth malt distillery on the Hebridean island.