Inverness live music venue could be turned into hostel
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Revellers are facing the loss of another Inverness city centre venue after plans emerged to convert part of Hootananny into a hostel.
Owner Kit Fraser has lodged an application to turn the first and second floors of the Church Street building – including the Mad Hatters venue – into a 30-bed backpackers’ hostel with manager’s accommodation, citing a wave of new pubs and increased business rates.
The news comes just a few months after we revealed the Ironworks in Academy Street could come down after plans were lodged to develop a 162-bedroom hotel on the site.
Over the years, Hootananny has won multiple awards and this summer was named Scotland’s best live music venue in the Scottish Bar and Pub Awards, organised by Media World.
Judges praised its diverse offerings, from ceilidh to pop and rock all at the same time on different levels.
The plans would see the smaller Mad Hatters venue – which has acted as a launchpad for many fledgling bands and solo acts – and a cocktail bar replaced with 15 bunks in dormitories.
The main ground floor bar and stage area would remain as it is.
Mr Fraser stressed he had not yet decided whether to proceed with the plans and was giving himself a few months’ thinking time.
“If there is a tidal wave of competition, I would be an idiot not to think ahead and keep my options open,” he said.
“I am the ultimate optimist but I have to be cautious too.
“The last thing I want to do is lose Mad Hatters and the cocktail bar. It has been fantastic. Mad Hatters has a reputation of encouraging up-and-coming new bands.
“But I have to think ahead. To make a decision, you have to be prepared for it, but you don’t necessarily make it.
“I cannot sleepwalk into the future.”
He cited developments such as the ongoing transformation of the former AI Welders into a bar and restaurant for Cairngorm Brewery and the £1.36 million revamp of the Blackfriars pub – both with the help of public funding – in Academy Street as prompting his decision to lodge the application.
In recent years, new pubs have opened in Church Street and there are also plans for a possible new pub tenant in the former Ashers bakery premises.
“There are only so many people staying out at night,” Mr Fraser said.
“Where are the extra people going to come from for these places? They are going to come from other people’s bars.”
Inverness band Mystic Shoes recently played its farewell gig at Hootananny and often played in the Mad Hatters venue.
Drummer Dickie Bills said: “It has been a great place over the years. It will be a loss, particularly for younger musicians.”
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP David Stewart, who is involved in talks to try and find an alternative venue for the Ironworks, was unaware of the Mad Hatters plans.
He said anything which detracted from live music venues across the region was a step back, but also understood tourist accommodation was an issue for the city as well.
Inverness Central ward councillor Bet McAllister had not seen the plans either but said they might might help address a shortage of affordable tourist accommodation in the city centre, a gap opened up after the loss of the Eastgate Hostel which was destroyed by fire in 2013.
