A Caithness hotel business is aiming to safeguard the jobs of its 27 staff and provide an additional venue for local events by turning its recently installed marquee into a permanent fixture.

Martin Nicolson, owner of the Northern Sands Hotel at Dunnet, has applied to Highland Council for planning permission after spending £100,000 creating the marquee and its associated facilities to provide a food and drink area during the Covid-19 pandemic.

He says that securing it as a long-term addition to the main hotel, situated on the North Coast 500 route, would allow the business to diversify and keep the staff employed all year round.

Mr Nicolson (50) claims the marquee is "much needed" on a permanent basis for weddings and other functions as well as events such as concerts, conferences and indoor markets. He also says the medical profession has expressed an interest in potentially using the marquee for vaccination clinics in the coming months and years.

"We’re busy in the summer – the North Coast 500 is brilliant – but even before Covid-19 hit we were looking at ways of developing the hotel to make it more viable," Mr Nicolson said.

"My feeling was that we need to put up a venue that can be used for weddings, for functions, for conferences, even markets. We could open the marquee for loads of different uses to try and keep the staff employed and possibly even employ more.”

The 12-bedroom hotel has a dining room and three bars. The 27-strong workforce are in a mixture of full-time and part-time posts.

“We’ve never had to lay off any full-time staff. Part-time staff come and go, with students coming home and working the summer, but in the winter months we’re probably still sitting with 20 or 22 people," Mr Nicolson said.

The marquee would cater for up to 150 seated wedding guests or up to 400 standing for concerts.

Mr Nicolson is a founding member of North Coast Entertainments, the not-for-profit organisation behind the Tunes in the Dunes music festival held at Dunnet. After having to cancel this year, acts have already been booked for September 2021.

“This facility will give us the opportunity to have more weddings and also the county is desperately needing somewhere to hold decent music concerts, as I've found out through being part of the North Coast Entertainments group,” he said.

“I’ve had 52 letters of support from the community and also two letters of objection.”

Supporters call the marquee "an asset to the community", providing a socially distanced eating and drinking area, and say it is important that the hotel continues to provide employment locally. Objectors raise concerns over visual impact and noise.

Mr Nicolson says there will be enhanced soundproofing and other improvements to the marquee if his application gets the go-ahead.

Gallery1

1 / 3

2 / 3

3 / 3

The Northern Sands is on the A836, close to Dunnet beach and next to the village church and Dunnet Bay Distillers.

Mr Nicolson points out that five generations on both sides of his family have been business owners and employers in the area.

He worked for many years in the family business Nicolson Engineering and then in 2009 started Blargoans, an industrial supplier.

The Northern Sands had become run-down when Mr Nicolson bought it on December 19, 2016. It then cost £750,000 to bring the hotel up to modern standards.

“I decided to take it over and hit it head-on," he said. "We had no option but to close it immediately. We got the keys at 12 o’clock and we closed it at one o’clock, and started the refurbishment right away."

At one stage more than 20 tradesmen were working there at the same time and the hotel reopened after less than six months, in May 2017.

“After purchase, £750,000 is what I spent on it – with no help from anybody, with no grants. It was totally privately funded," Mr Nicolson said. “And I’ve spent another £100,000 on the marquee and flooring and everything.

“It was £22,000 to make and build the new mobile toilets. I like to think it’s one of the premium hotels, so you need to have toilets to match. The toilets for the marquee are done to exactly the same standard as the internal toilets in the hotel.”

He says the hotel is well supported by the community.

“The locals have been fantastic, and I say ‘locals’ as in Caithness and north Sutherland as well as the village of Dunnet.

“The support we’ve had is brilliant. We’ve had a lot of people from Wick, Thurso, Lybster, Melvich, you name it – and they come regularly. I can’t thank them enough.”

Mr Nicolson says that having the hotel renovated was "only the start of bringing it back to life". He said: "The real jewel in the crown are the staff who, in my opinion, are the best in the trade. It is their dedication, hard work and professionalism that has made the hotel a success since reopening."

The hotel began life in 1850. Originally called the Dunnet Hotel, it became the Golf Links Hotel as a golf course had been established a short distance away. The newly formed Thurso Golf Club began using the links in 1893 before securing a course closer to the town.

In 1921 Dunnet Bay Golf Club was formed and hotel-keeper James Wilson arranged for the course to be laid out by the renowned golf course architect James Braid, probably in the 1930s.

Hopes of extending the course fell by the wayside with the outbreak of World War II. The hotel had become dilapidated before being taken over by the RAF and it was used by pilots from the nearby RAF base at Thurdistoft, Castletown.

After the war the hotel was renamed as the Northern Sands Hotel.

• More news

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.