Wait is over as Westings cafe welcomes folk back
THE WESTINGS Inn has re-opened as a cafe in a welcome boost to locals and visitors to the area.
The cafe, which sits on the Wormadale hill and overlooks Nesbister, welcomed customers back this morning (Friday) for coffee, cakes and lunchtime favourites.
Owners David and Tom Sutherland took over the dormant business in 2023 and focused firstly on reopening the accommodation side of the building, before turning their attentions to the café.
The Westings was a well-liked stopping point for visitors and locals travelling through the area in years gone by, but has long laid dormant.
With Bonhoga art gallery and café also closed in late 2023 for major refurbishments, there have been a lack of options for people on the West Side looking for soup, a sandwich or just a cup of tea.
David Sutherland said they were pleased to get the café back up and open to the public today.
“It’s been a lot of work, and we’ve just tried to make sure we had enough staff before opening,” he said.
Shetland News visited this afternoon (Friday) as customers enjoyed the stunning views and sampled the opening day menu.
David said they had settled on a “simple menu” to start with, focusing on soup, sandwiches, paninis and rolls – as well as hot drinks and sweet treats.
They will initially be open from Wednesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm, just to “see how it goes” to start with.
David said rhey have had a good number of young people enquiring about jobs, which has allowed them to build a strong team for tomorrow’s service.
He said he was not sure whether to expect a rush of people in to check out the Westings on Saturday.
“We essentially don’t know, if it’s a good day you never really know,” he added.
The owners, who are brothers, took over the business three years ago and also own Herrislea House Hotel in Tingwall.
David said the Westings was in a “pretty poor” state when they took over, and had been “quite derelict”.
“A couple more years and it might have been beyond saving,” he said.
“Every part of the building needed something done to it.”
They renovated the rooms first in order to ensure they could begin offering accommodation once again, before adding two one-bedroom glamping pods outside of the seven-bedroom hotel.
The café was “actually the best part of the building”, David said, needing just new flooring and windows.
He said they had “no idea” what they wanted the café and sitting area to look like, and brought in the outside assistance of Jonathan Williamson from Fjara Café Bar.
“He’s been great, really helpful,” David said.
“He gave us some advice and said to get it open, and then tweak what we wanted to.”
For now the bar at the Westings remains closed, though David hopes they again will be able to open that when they have enough staff to run it.
“Everything is ready to go, we just have to make sure we have enough staff,” he added.
David thanked everybody that had helped the Westings to get back open, and said they would be doing some more work on the rooms over time.
But the café, he said, is “pretty much how we want it”.
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its readers to consider paying for membership to get additional perks:
- Removal of third-party ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
