Although my working career began in Civil Engineering, took a detour in my employment path to work within the Licensed Hospitality industry for what was to have been a temporary “stop-gap” position. 45 years later with the Scottish Licensed Trade Association and having served a “long apprenticeship”, I now hold the position of Managing Director.
The principle focus for myself and the Scottish Licensed Trade Association is dealing with the wide range of issues facing the licensed hospitality sector, some new issues, some recurring within the industry at present and keeping members ahead of the game on developments that will impact on their businesses. In addition, our training services for members provides a free on-line platform covering necessary/compulsory compliance training modules, such as Scotland’s 2hr. mandatory training for licensed trade servers. We also provide on-line personal licence holder training.
What do you think are the greatest opportunities for the Scottish Tourism, retail and hospitality industries in 2027?
It should be remembered that in this digital age of social media, our pubs and bars were the “original social networking platform” and continue to play a vital role in Scotland’s heritage, culture, tourism and social inclusion, not forgetting of course the sector’s contribution to the Scottish economy.
The Licensed Trade Industry is a “peoples” industry built on non-virtual social interaction that delivers the “experience” of visiting our pubs and bars. More professional recognised training delivers that experience and creates the grounding for business improvement and we need to continually build on that with the right people and the right training such as the services provided by the SLTA.
Like it or loathe it, AI is here to stay and developing at an astonishing rate. We all need to embrace the opportunities this brings to develop our businesses, not just from an operational basis, but also to develop the “offering” businesses need to provide for today’s increased customer expectations.
What are you looking most forward to seeing, meeting, or attending at ScotHot?
To be honest it’s hard to target just one thing with the variety of events and the wide diversity of business owners who will be attending ScotHot. I look forward to seeing our members and meeting other licensees, staff, suppliers and producers face to face. If I had to narrow it down, having been involved in the industry for almost all of my adult working life then it would be the industry colleagues who have also spent the majority of their working life in this challenging, but, exceptionally rewarding industry - there are still quite a few of us around I am pleased to say.
Why do you think events like ScotHot are important to the industry?
ScotHot brings all sections of the industry together in one place for individuals to be innovated, educated, and also celebrate all that is good in our industry. ScotHot also brings to Scotland the opportunity for new and established businesses to “display their wares” to a wide audience.
