‘I worry about retirement’ - Nick Nairn on 40 years in hospitality and why he’s not slowing down

For Mr Nairn, there are plenty of ideas still coming - and still plenty to do.

Having started a career in the Merchant Navy, Mr Nairn opened his own restaurant, Braeval Old Mill, in 1986 where he was awarded a Michelin Star just five years later. The youngest chef in Scotland at the time to gain a star, Mr Nairn readily admits that when he started out he “couldn’t even boil an egg” but was passionate about good food and cooking.

It was a passion, he admits, possibly too intense in the beginning. He said: “My mistake, if I made a mistake, is I was too intense. It was all about the food.”

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After Braeval, Mr Nairn became a TV star, appearing on Ready, Steady Cook, on BBC Two, from 1995 as well as Wild Harvest and Island Harvest. He also opened Nairns in Glasgow and his cook school at Lake of Menteith in 2000. Further ventures followed, including a BBC’s The Great Food Guys which started in 2019, a refurbishment of the cook school, a Narins restaurant in Bridge of Allan, which closed in 2024 and a restaurant as part of the cook school, Nick’s at Port of Menteith.

You’d think after such a busy career and success that Mr Nairn would be contemplating retirement.

He said: “Retirement is a scary prospect because if you retire and wake up one morning and think ‘wait a minute, I made a mistake’ there’s no going back’.”

Instead, Nick and his wife Julia have plans for their Lake of Menteith offering, as well as enjoying time in their Edinburgh flat. Mr Nairn explained: “I suppose the question that’s uppermost in both of mine and Julia’s minds is ‘where do we go from here?’ What’s next? In the last 10 years we’ve done 10 projects. I think the next step for here will be accommodation.

“We’re looking at a company called Iron and Pine down in Dumfries and that would allow people to come here, stay one night, have dinner, a class the next day, overnight for a second night, have dinner again or have a drink after classes. We also have plans to develop the field, move the bees there and plant an orchard, which I am really quite excited about. I want to develop the garden a bit, and put in a nature trail. I think it’s going to become increasingly important for people who are looking for an experience to have extras.”

He added: “Restaurants on their own these days are almost impossible to operate at a profitable level unless you actually own the whole building.”

On reflection of his 40 years in business, Mr Nairn said: “Part of me thinks ‘why am I still working after 40 years?’ But part of me thinks it has been a pleasure and a privilege to have done what I’ve done in the early days of Braeval and get the (Michelin) star and keep it for 10 years.

“ And then doing telly and stuff, and I kind of disappeared out of the industry I suppose and then I came back and did this (his Port of Menteith restaurant and cook school). It was really out of need as the Cook School couldn’t operate because of Covid so we thought we’d open a restaurant. Once it opened, all my restaurant experience came back again and we re-did the Cook School and I re-did the classes to reflect my early love, which was Asian food, which I discovered in the Navy where I spent seven years travelling around Asia.

“I really enjoy what we’re doing. I’m really chuffed we got recognition in the Good Food Guide Top 50 (best local restaurants) recently.”

Asked if he’d do it all again, or differently, if he could go back to the start, Mr Nairn said: “I don’t think there’s anything else that I am that good at. I’d love to do it all again with the knowledge that I have now and not go through that learning process, which was brutal.

“I would probably have liked to do this type of restaurant (Nick’s at Port of Menteith) more than the formal one. Having said that, finding myself at The Dorchester in London, with the Michelin Stars, rubbing shoulders with Albert (Roux) and people like that, it was just amazing. It was an incredible time and back then there were only about 30 stars in all of the UK. We were the fifth in Scotland so it was a special time. So yeah I would probably be a chef, I would be a restaurateur but I think I would pursue the more populist route rather than the slightly more elitist thing.”

Mr Nairn sees a shift in dining trends coming, with a focus on the less formal. His current favourite place to eat is Dogstar in Leith; a San Sebastian inspired restaurant that’s quickly gained rave reviews.

He said: “Things change and food, in my lifetime, became very precious, very self important and very expensive which pushes into a certain category.

“There are only a small number of people who can really afford to eat certain types of food. I genuinely think we are at the start of a big change and a move away from long complicated tasting menus to a more approachable three course menu or sharing plates format. I think it’s a good thing. I enjoyed doing (fine dining) and it’s easy for me to say as I had a Michelin Star and I’ve done all that but I love the atmosphere that we create here. It’s not just about the food, it’s about people having a great time. It’s a special place.”

Nick’s at Port of Menteith is hosting a summer foodie festival from 15 to 16 August and is open for meals and cook school bookings. Find out more via their website.