Evening News Business Section - Thursday 15th September, 2005
Brother and Sister check into hotel for new career

You would be advised not to ask Kym Henderson and her brother Jamie if there could possibly be room for yet another hotel in Edinburgh.

They believe that the market in the Capital is not over-subscribed, and insist that, in their specific case, they have a viable product in a particular part of town ready for what they have in mind. Well, they would say that, bearing in mind that the new owners of Borough in Causewayside on the city’s Southside both know how to “project”.

Both are toe-in-the-water hoteliers. But Kym previously earned her living in advertising and Jamie, 36, was in corporate communications.

Borough, they claim, is one of Edinburgh’s “best- kept secrets”. It would require flashing neon to grab one’s attention on driving past. The place functioned as a snooker hall on both floors before it was acquired privately five years ago and turned into a hotel.

The entrepreneurial buyers at the time indulged a seven-figure conversion to a 50-cover restaurant, bar and a dozen rooms but the massive investment and a passion for “style” did, at least, see Borough achieve a rating as one of the best hotels of its type in the world.

The world ranking failed to secure Borough’s future, though. Two years ago it was taken over by Caledonian Heritable, which ran it day-to-day.

Then along came the hotel-hunting Hendersons. Says Kym, now the general manager: “We like to think of this as the start of something really big for us. Quite definitely there is a game plan, We have a vision. We’re setting out to create Borough as a brand and our bankers are with us in what we have in mind for the next 20 to 30 years.

“There’s still plenty of mileage for Edinburgh hoteliers with the right product.

“I’d had enough of advertising when I sort of fell into my first hotel job two years ago, here at Borough. For most of the time I’ve been chef and I developed a feel for the industry”.

Brother Jamie has been on the same wavelength. Like his sister he appears to have similar credentials.

“I worked in public relations in London before coming back home to Edinburgh,” he says, “and for the past three years I’ve been with Scottish Widows’ corporate communications department.

“My main function with Borough will be PR and marketing. This combined with the hands-on experience Kym has garnered in situ has contributed to the relationship we’ve built with our financial backers.

“Admittedly Borough is hardly an in-your-face hotel but the location isn’t bad at all. Indeed it has a lot going for it with plenty of A-listing housing in the area. While we are no more than ten minutes from the centre of town, we are also close to the A68 and A7”.
Borough will stress a relatively fine dining policy, far removed from the days of pies and pints when the building was a sanctuary for the snooker fraternity. “Our intention is to build a reputation for food,” Kym elaborates. “We have the right man at the helm in Paul Munday, former chef at The Dome in George Street.

“Paul was installed here by Caledonian Heritable and we are happy to have him in charge of the kitchen.”
The Hendersons, it must be said, were not entirely new to the hotel industry and they readily admit to paternal advice and encouragement.

Father Hamish, still an active player in property development, owned the fashionable Buckingham Hotel in the West End.
A magnet for showbiz and sports personalities, it was Henderson Senior’s only venture into hotels, short of The Broadstreik, near Aberdeen, in 1991-93.

He sold up after seven years to concentrate on pubs, all of them atmospheric and profitable, including The Bailie and Nicky Tam’s.

He was recently behind a major retail property development in Hawick.

He said: “As for my offspring, I’m absolutely delighted for them. They’ve got ambition and their idea of promoting Borough as a brand name excites me as much as it does them.”