The Scotsman Bulletin for Thursday September 04 2025 #FoodandDrink

The Scotsman

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to the Scotsman's Video Bulletin for this Thursday.

00:04My name's Dale Miller, I'm Deputy Editor at the Scotsman

00:07and I'm joined by our Food and Drink Editor, Rosalind Erskine.

00:12Ros, we're going to get to talking about all things food and drink shortly

00:16and it's a mix of good and bad news within the sector

00:20but firstly the front page of today's Scotsman.

00:24And we let on John Swinney cutting cash for arms firms

00:28which supply Israel but also relaxing in some areas

00:33there had been a hard ban from the S&P government

00:37on munitions or companies linked to munitions production.

00:42That has been eased but John Swinney has clearly set out

00:46that there will be no money for any firm which supplies Israel

00:50or any link contract at all.

00:52He set that out in detail yesterday and the Palestine flag

00:56was flown from St Andrew House as well.

00:59The Scottish Government headquarters for a period

01:01of a number of hours yesterday.

01:03You may have seen some images circulating on that.

01:06Also a front cover picture from the red carpet around Downton Abbey

01:11as well there to mention.

01:14And if you want to read more on the implications

01:16of Gregor Townsend's new contract which will take him through

01:20in charge of Scotland for the next World Cup,

01:24a little bit of contention there about whether he had earned

01:28one more shot given his existing record with the Scottish national side.

01:35But you can read all about that through our sports section

01:38on the website.

01:38Ros, I wanted to talk to you about food and drink.

01:43There's a story we've got up on our site.

01:45It's in today's Scotsman in the print product as well.

01:49But it's about Rosebank and it's not great news

01:53and perhaps surprising for some given the distillery hasn't been open

01:58that long as really a state-of-the-art facility.

02:01Yeah, so Ian McLeod Distillers kind of took it on

02:05and spent multiple years, like four or five years, doing it up.

02:08It was a lost distillery for a long, long time in Falkirk

02:11and they opened to quite a big fanfare last year.

02:15I don't think it's been open a year yet.

02:17It might have just been around about a year just now.

02:19And they announced that they're letting about 20 staff go.

02:23They're making about 20 staff redundant.

02:25They're sort of managers and tour guides.

02:27So their visitor centre isn't as busy as they thought it was going to be.

02:34You know, the article says it's losing money.

02:35So these people, unfortunately, are losing their jobs at the start of October.

02:38So it's just a bit of a wider reflection on what's going on

02:42in the whisky industry just now.

02:43It's on a bit of a downturn.

02:45But yes, it's pretty awful for the people there

02:48and very surprising for just the industry in general

02:51because this was one of the big openings.

02:54It was highly anticipated.

02:55And a lot of people who love Rosebank Whiskey

02:57and were wanting to see what was going on

02:59and try the new stuff will be probably quite surprised at this.

03:03Ros, and this comes against the backdrop

03:05where we've had some other pressures on the industry,

03:08the water shortages.

03:10We know we had a record summer heat-wise across the UK

03:13and some of the water shortages have hit production

03:18and distilleries in certain areas.

03:20So we know that has been a pressure.

03:22Cost of living pressures have been feeding across as well.

03:26How is the whisky sector going in the face of all this?

03:30We haven't even mentioned tariffs as well.

03:32How is the sector coping with all this, do you think, at the moment?

03:35I mean, I think on the surface of it,

03:38there's still a lot of new launches.

03:39There's still a lot of positivity.

03:40There's still a lot of chat.

03:41I mean, I don't think it's going to be as terrible

03:43as, you know, back in the 80s and 90s.

03:45It's just one of those things.

03:46They had such a boom period during COVID with people at home

03:49and, you know, buying drink to drink at home.

03:51And, you know, they had a lot of fortunes then.

03:54It was never going to sustain the global market as it is

03:59with, you know, just people not buying as many luxury items,

04:02you know, the cost of living over the last few years, tariffs,

04:05as you say, things going on with China.

04:07It is a bit of a downturn.

04:10There's still some positivity.

04:11There's still a lot of new launches.

04:12There's still a lot of interest in it.

04:14But, yeah, I think when it comes down to, you know,

04:15production and people's day-to-day jobs, you know,

04:18we're probably going to see a bit more pullback as this continues.

04:22On a more positive note, it's awards season.

04:25You've written a couple of stories linked in in recent days

04:29and over the past week or so.

04:31So, one about the athletic arms.

04:33Can you tell us a bit about that?

04:34And just tell us what else has jumped out at you

04:37from the recent award announcements?

04:41Yeah, so it was the Bar and Pub Awards at the end of last month

04:44and the athletic arms, known as Diggers,

04:46in Edinburgh won Whiskey Bar of the Year.

04:48So they're delighted about that.

04:50They've got about 800 whiskeys behind the bar.

04:53And I was there recently and it's a really, really nice,

04:55kind of old-school Victorian pub, really nice staff.

04:58And they also launched their own whisky, which was really nice.

05:02Yeah, so there was, you know, lots of winners in the Bar and Pub Awards

05:06hospitality being really celebrated there.

05:09We've had the shortlist through for the National Fish and Chip Awards,

05:13the takeaway of the year.

05:14So there's five Scottish chippies shortlisted for that,

05:17which is always a good awards time in February next year.

05:22I always think it'd be a great one to judge.

05:25Another good one that would be good to judge would be

05:28Scotland's Best Croissant Competition is back.

05:31That's hosted by the Edinburgh Butter Company

05:33and was won by Maple Leaf Bakery in Glasgow last year.

05:37And, yeah, we're just at the Spice Awards as well.

05:41That was just recently announced, all the winners there.

05:45So, yeah, we're heading into more and more sort of shortlisting awards

05:48and, you know, just celebrating the food and drink,

05:50which is good news.

05:51I'm sure, Ros, if they're looking for anyone to come forward

05:55for the Crossland Judging Awards,

05:57then there'll probably be plenty of our readers

05:59that will be interested in sticking their hands up for that.

06:02You can read all the stories that we've talked about at scotsman.com.

06:05We do have a special stand-alone food and drink section

06:10of the Scotsman site.

06:11You can access that via the food and drink tab available

06:15off the navigation bar on the main homepage

06:18where you'll get all the latest coverage from Ros

06:22and the rest of the sector.

06:24Please follow us on social media channels and go out

06:27and buy a copy of the Scotsman in print tomorrow.

06:30We'll have significant political coverage.

06:33Sir Keir Starmer is in Glasgow today.

06:34He will be quizzed about Angela Rayner and whether she needs

06:38to resign and we'll also have words from John Swinney

06:41who was announcing and launching a new independence paper

06:44this morning.

06:45So, please pick up a copy or tune into our website.

06:48So, Rose, thanks to you and thanks to everyone else for joining us.

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