New owners to relaunch and refurbish Dunnikier House

by XPRESS, 01 February 2018

Doug and Sarah Philip acquired the 15-bedroom listed property in Fife off a guide price of £550,000 from Stewart and Lesley Dykes.

The Philips plan to refurbish the hotel, including the bedrooms, bar and restaurant, fit a new roof, and rename the 18th-century property Oswald House after its original owners, the Oswald family.

“We’ve been looking for a place to buy on the east coast closer to Edinburgh,” said Doug. “This came up and it just fitted well into our budget, our location and it’s well connected so it all worked out quite well.”

Doug has previously worked in hospitality recruitment, while wife Sarah runs Lunga House near Oban and runs events. Both of their parents have also operated hospitality businesses including pubs and hotels. “We both grew up working as kitchen porters and waitresses,” said Doug.

For the next three to four months they plan to refurbish the bedrooms, with the first nine bedrooms scheduled to reopen in April or May. Structural work on the hotel roof will follow.

The hotel will have 16 rooms on completion – two small rooms are being turned into one large room, and a function room is being transformed into two suites.

“It will be an ongoing process, we’ll be re-investing in the property as it runs,” said Doug. “We’ll be running the place ourselves, we’re very hands on. We’ve taken on a core group of staff who were here previously, and once the rooms are open we’ll start to build our team.”

The bar is remaining open during refurbishment, and the hotel restaurant re-opens later this week. Events are also still being accommodated on the ground floor. The bar and restaurant together will accommodate approximately 80-90 covers and will continue to serve simple pub food.

The Dykes, who also own the Crusoe hotel in Lower Largo, purchased the hotel in 2007, however decided to sell the property to focus on the Crusoe.

Alistair Letham, a director in the UK hotels agency team at Colliers International, who acted on behalf of the Dykes, said: “The country mansion house hotel setting, coupled with its central Fife location, offers tremendous scope for further growth. Doug and Sarah Philip’s plans to build on its heritage, while further developing its offering as a quality wedding venue, bodes well for its future success and we wish them well in their new venture.”

Article credit: the Caterer