Shock announcement of Grantown heritage centre closure
Strathspey's popular Grantown East Highland Heritage and Culture Centre is to close permanently tomorrow.
The Strathy was told the shock news this afternoon by Revack Estate owner Karen Blessington, who had personally seen the former station transformed into a restaurant and shop with its own superb miniature railway capable of carrying passengers around the grounds.
"It is with deepest sadness that I have to announce the immediate permanent closure of Grantown East Highland Heritage and Cultural Centre," said Ms Blessington.
“Grantown East has been a personal passion since the project first started in 2015, so it is a
devastating loss to me."
The attraction officially opened on November 2, 2018.
"Sadly, after a little more than four years trading it has become clear that Grantown East is not financially sustainable.
"I expected that the first few years of business would be hard, but was committed to personally finance the business until it could support itself.
"Unfortunately, Grantown East did not have enough time to firmly establish itself before the global pandemic struck and, as for many other businesses, 2020 and 2021 were very tough years.
"As 2022 dawned, restrictions eased and business returned to normal, I had hope again that the business would flourish, but it was not to be and the losses continued to mount to the point where I can no longer afford to continue.
"Grantown East would like to thank all its customers for their support over the years and to thank all its staff for their dedicated service.
"Grantown East will cease trading at 4pm on Tuesday 10th January 2023."
For more on this story see Thursday's Strathy.
