A new Inverness live music and entertainment venue has undergone a dramatic change as it gets set to reopen next weekend.
The Botanic House on Castle Street, former home of G’s nightclub, has been shut since March – after only opening for the first time last October.
Now, the team behind the popular Botanic House have adapted their business model temporarily, moving away from live music and entertainment to a drinks and food venue.
This is due to current coronavirus restrictions outlawing any sort of noise in licensed premises.
It also counts as a homecoming for new general manager Tom Wilding, who has moved from Edinburgh back to Inverness to undertake this new “exciting venture.”
Mr Wilding said: “We are planning to reopen on September 25 with a dramatically different model.
“As well as continuing to offer a cool and relaxed venue, we have created an exciting new vibe with grazing menus and re-designed drinks and cocktail menus. Replacing our dance floor with more seating and tables – socially distanced of course.
“Of course, Botanic House will be Covid-19 friendly, with one-way signage, social distancing measures and the track and trace system in place. We even have our own Botanic House rules to make things safe and easy for everyone when visiting us.
“We have changed from a late-night music venue to an evening bar which allows us to open and welcome our regular customers back.
“We have been closed since March and like many live music and entertainment venues, we thought we would be in a different place by now. However after a lot of hard work behind the scenes, we have adapted to allow us to welcome people back to Botanic House.”
Mr Wilding was made redundant from his job managing bars for a pub chain in the capital back in March but has now moved his family to Inverness.
He added: “I moved to Edinburgh 12 years ago from the Highlands and have managed a number of bars over that time, most latterly a group of five city centre bars as operations manager but was made redundant in March
“When the opportunity arose to move home and take the lead on re -aunching the botanic I decided it was a great move.”
The Botanic House will be open every Friday and Saturday from 5pm until 11pm, with potential to be open more days in the future. Tables can be booked at thebotanic.co.uk.