When business partners Frank Cogan and Martin Mackay of Bozz Co Inns Ltd embarked on their latest venture – The Tipsy Cow in Airdrie, Lanarkshire – they knew exactly what sort of place they wanted it to be.
The aim was to create a space that would not look out of place in Glasgow or Edinburgh, and to present a modern take on the venue’s original incarnation as an iconic Black Bull Inn.
The new name was inspired by American bar names while the new logo – of a bull’s head – is a nod to the building’s history. It was designed by Frank’s son, Paul, 22, who is also the manager.
Martin, 47, says, “We got the keys at the start of November and opened about three weeks later, so what we did was mostly cosmetic really. The original interior was alright but it was very dark and we had a really clear vision of what we wanted to do with it. We threw out a lot of good stuff in the end because it didn’t fit with how we wanted it to look. We wanted a big open space with nice high ceilings and we wanted to hit the coffee market during the day with cake and scones and then flip it into a cocktail bar at night, somewhere you can have a nice meal in the Brasserie, which is aimed at couples, parties of friends, that sort of thing.
“We wanted to create a place that you could literally pick up and put in any town or city centre and it would fit in.” Frank, 53, adds, “You get the same values in here as you get in the town in terms of service and so on – you don’t need to go into town for that. We’re already in the middle of a good drinking circuit. Airdrie is one of the best towns in Lanarkshire.”
The pair, who worked at Belhaven together before setting up their own business, are well placed to know. They already have another venue in the town, The Cellar Bar, which is just a stone’s throw from The Tipsy Cow. And they also have The Bell Mill Hotel in Bellshill, The Stewart Inn in Stepps, near Glasgow, and The Foundry in Bathgate.
As soon as you walk into The Tipsy Cow, the overwhelming sense is of an open, light and airy space, with a relaxed feel to it. Large windows along the side of the building flood light into the entire area, while the white brick tiles behind the bar – which has been completely refurbished – bounce it back into the room and give a cool, modern feel.
A huge 7ft-wide sash window at the front of the building actually opens right up – and will be a hit with customers in the warmer summer months. The old sandstone and brick walls have been left exposed, and wallpaper around the bar area is printed up to look like distressed Victorian-style tiles. The ceiling is painted in grey and a light sage green, while the floor is wooden – all very easy-going, natural colours and tones. Five glass lights suspended above the bar keep it light and bright, while a series of old wooden vegetable boxes turned sideways and stacked on the wall behind for wine bottles contrast brilliantly with the crisp, modern look of the glass shelves on which the spirits are stored.
The bar is topped with slate recycled from snooker tables and the front of it is panelled in wood. Again, echoing the wallpaper’s theme, large vintage-style tiles have been used on the floor around the bar.
The bar stools and chairs are upholstered in distressed brown leather, while the banquette seating at the tables is in a darker brown. Bar stools at the window are in copper and topped with lustrous dark wooden seats, while there are lower-height stools in polished copper.
An eye-catching ‘FOOD’ sign on the wall at the main window was inspired by similar items on Pinterest – and created using a bike from a charity in Glasgow that recycles old models. Moving through to the Brasserie at the rear of the venue, the tone of the decor changes subtly – the space has a more sophisticated feel.
Again, this is very much in keeping with the dining menu, which includes mains like venison and haggis Wellington with wild mushroom skirlie and port jus and roast monkfish with ginger ribbon vegetables. There is banquette seating on either side of the dining area, with small tables set for two to four people as well as wooden topped round tables which seat up to six, for larger groups. The colour palette is subtle – with slate tiles on the floor, and chairs upholstered in a mix of brown, teal and light lime green. On the walls, exposed brickwork gives way to flock wallpaper in taupe and blue, etched with fabulous peacocks and butterflies.
Several paintings by renowned McCoo artist Steven Brown hang on the walls and an original Victorian fireplace sits in the corner of the room as an additional feature – although it is no longer in use. Much of the inspiration for the look of the venue came from Pinterest, but Martin and Frank also worked closely with Stephen Paterson of Burns Interior Design in Glasgow to make sure they got the £70,000 refurbishment just right.
Martin says, “This is a completely different offering to The Cellar Bar.Airdrie has a lot of other good offerings already and there is no point doing the same as them – we wanted to do something a wee tiny bit different. We told Stephen the idea we were looking for, he came back with some suggestions and we picked out what we wanted. We were very specific with what we wanted done – so it wasn’t as though we came in and changed our minds about things.
“The name was inspired by bar names in America – I was Googling them at the time – and it felt right as it retains a touch of the original while bringing things a bit more up to date at the same time. We are really pleased with the look of the venue, the general ambience. You could come in here and sit with your sister, your husband, have breakfast or a piece of cake, or meet up with friends and their kids – and that’s exactly the kind of market we were looking for.”
They currently have around 70 covers in total, with 36 in the Brasserie and another 34 in the cafe bar area.
Much of the furniture came from Andy Thornton in Leeds, the crockery, cutlery and sundries came from Colbrook Supplies Direct in Chapelhall, while local firm A Hardie Signs, of Airdrie, did all the signage. When it comes to suppliers of food and drink, Frank and Martin are happy to look to further afield – with meat from Rodgers of Partick and fruit and vegetables from Premier Produce at Glasgow Fruit & Vegetable Market.
Frank explains, “Suppliers that you would find supplying to people in the West End of Glasgow, you’ll find supplying us here too. All those comparisons that are made with the town, we tick all of those boxes – wine selections, cocktails, ambience.”
Tennents supply all their drinks, from beer through to wine and spirits. Frank also has plans to expand their own grocery line – they already sell a Tipsy Cow signature ground coffee blend which is proving popular – but he is also focused on making sure they get everything just right.
He explains, “Once you open the doors, you find that you have to correct certain areas – ones that you thought would appeal to the clientele maybe don’t as much, so you have to change things up again. The feedback has been tremendous so far – we’ve had great reviews, which is fantastic and we are really pleased with it ourselves.”
Business is in David Stein and his sister Kirstie’s blood – the brother and sister team not only run an award-winning butchers, David Stein Butchers in Bathgate – but also have an award-winning delicatessen and wine business, off-sales, a cafe and two further cafe-bar’s – 1912 in Bathgate and the most recently opened cafe-bar 1807 in Linlithgow, both of which are also award-winning!
I caught up with David, and manager Gary, at his Cafebar 1807 in Linlithgow. The bar, formerly The Auld Hole in the Wall, opened earlier this year, and has been transformed from a traditional drinking howff into a stylish bar and restaurant that would not look out of place in any city centre.
However, when it comes to David, the phrase “Butcher, baker, candlestick maker’ has resonance – because although he was brought up a son of a butcher, and still runs the butchers with his sister, he has spent the last 35 years as a printer. He explains, “I never wanted to be a butcher directly, but I would work at night as a printer and during the day I would concentrate on how to develop the family business.”
David opened his first small restaurant 15 years ago called The Cottage. He explains, “It was at the time of the celebrity chef and I opened it with a friend. The idea was to promote the butchers by selling great steaks there. It also allowed us to learn about the hospitality side of the business.”
That was one of the reasons that he and Kirstie opened Cafebar1912 in Bathgate five years ago. Says David, “It seemed like a natural progression. And a few of the people that we had working in the butchers came down and worked at the cafe. It has worked really well. Our Bathgate business is very successful.”
He is hoping to replicate that success with Cafebar 1807. It was a mutual business contact who suggested to the owner, Colin Hilditch of Hilditch Inns, that David might be a potential candidate to take on the lease.”
Says David, “Colin and I knew each other because our families have both run businesses in this area for more than 40 years. I thought we could really make a go of it and Colin gave us that opportunity. He also supplied with me all the info and just about gave me carte blanche with the venue, although he did request that we kept the bar in the same place, and I’m glad we did that now. It has become a real focal point.”
David continues, “It was a very traditional venue which showed sports, but our idea was to make it user friendly. We are free of tie and now we are the first pub in West Lothian to sell Paolozzi lager on draught, and we also sell a lot of Moretti. They have never let me down. When it comes to spirits we keep it premium and I am also fussy about our coffee which I think is the best around – Cafe Milano.”
His manager Gary adds, “I worked for the previous owner, and the transformation has been amazing. For instance, in the past, we always had door stewards on the door at the weekend. When David told us his plans for the venue, I wasn’t sure that we would get away with not having door stewards on… but he was right. As soon as we opened as Cafebar1807 and people realised that it was quite different with table service, a contemporary look and a focus on food, the regulars moved on quite naturally.”
Says David, “We wanted to make the bar contemporary, with a more European feel, and of course, we wanted it to be female friendly.” He adds, “We did all the interior fit-out ourselves. From picking the paint to making the tables. Although we did bring in a sound engineer to put the sound system in and a fabricator to do the metalwork.”
The cafebar, which David says is on the best site in West Lothian, has a window area with a waist-high bench which allows people to sit and enjoy a drink while the world walks by. David explains, “If you sit people in the window it makes the place look busy, but these are also seats which people really like because they can see everything that’s going on.”
The bar which was traditional mahogany has been painted pale grey and a modern metal shelving unit which is used to hang glassware on, while the wood panelling has all been painted a similar light colour. Immediately in front of the bar, there is a wooden floor with table and chairs where people can dine, and where they can sit with their dogs.
The dog-friendly aspect is important. Says David, “In Bathgate, we tried to introduce a dog-friendly culture after a couple of years, but when we surveyed our customers the idea got a 50/50 response. So we didn’t go with it, but when we opened here we decided to make it friendly from the get-go, and that has really worked. We don’t allow dogs in after 7ish and we also keep them off the carpeted area, but that apart, they are welcome. And really with this being such a dog walking area, it was only sensible. Before we opened there were only two bars in Linlithgow who took dogs. Now pretty much every pub here is dog-friendly. When I was building this place, I was watching thousands of people walking their dogs so it was really a no-brainer.”
Certainly on the day I was there, four dogs were comfortably seated with their respective owners who were enjoying lunch, (the owners, that is)!
David is delighted with the way the business has developed at Cafe 1807. He tells me, “When I walk in here on a Saturday night I get goosebumps, because it is running just the way I like it. When I walk through the door I want to see certain things – I want the music and lighting to be right and I want to see the staff moving about in the right way. He explains, “I go all over the place – Manchester, Liverpool, London you name it and I am always looking at the way things are run and what they look like. But honestly, when I walk in here on a Saturday night I know that we have got it right. We are also fortunate that we can supply the meat from our very own butchers – having good produce is the holy grail of the restaurant business, and we are very fortunate in that our supply chain is excellent. We’ve also got the added benefit of being able to manage our portion control because it comes prepared that way directly from the Butcher.”
Another practice that has stood David in good stead with the hospitality side of the businesses is good hygiene practice. He says, “Scottish butchers are the most highly regulated for hygiene in the whole of Europe, and we have continued this ethos in our cafebars.”
But perhaps the biggest difference with David and Kirstie’s businesses is that they have been taking care of customers for 40 years. As a result, customer service comes naturally and they try to impart this to their staff with ongoing training. Says David, “I think our customer service really is what makes us stand out from our competitors. We’ve taken the customer service ethos from our butchers and deli and tweaked it a bit. We don’t muck about if a customer has a complaint – whether we are in the wrong or not – they don’t pay. It’s not worth ruining our reputation for the price of a meal. People complain in threes – one thing goes wrong but they need to find another two things to justify it. I have a saying… ‘Glad, sorry, sure… I’m glad you told us and I’m sorry it happened, but I’m sure we can fix it’.”
He continues, “To be honest, I man and operate my bars the way I would like to be served, and I like good service. Before we opened here [1807], we really trained our staff – we put them into Bathgate and as I use the same till system and same booking system there as here and despite the first three weeks being chaos here as the customers and staff got used to the new place, the staff were brilliant. Gary and Kieran, the other manager, have really helped too and have helped grow the business here. Gary adds, “I can honestly say the staff we now have here are the best team of people that I have worked with.”
If being a butcher, bar and restaurant operator and printer were not enough to keep him busy, David is also a former singer in a rock band and as a result, he puts on a lot of live music in both his venues. Says David, “We put on more than 300 gigs a year! I’ve only three rules… no backing tracks, no Oasis and no Coldplay.”
Going forward, David is already on the lookout for his next venue. He says, “Kirstie and I are partners but she very much concentrates on the butchers and off-sales side of the business and she has got very good at dealing with suppliers. She has a keen interest in gin – she’s become a bit of an expert. I used to do that, and that is how I got to know so many reps, but now I concentrate on the bar and restaurant side. I love it. But I don’t just like my own places, I love going to see other people’s places too. I’m definitely ready for another place now – and I am on the lookout.”
As well as being on the lookout for a new place the team are celebrating winning an Observer award. Says David, “As a small business, we like to enter awards and we have been very fortunate to win a few. Just recently we won an Observer food award, and it was the 5th year in a row that we reached the finals – in fact, we have more Observer awards than any other company in the UK.”
I cannot imagine these will be the only awards that David and Kirstie will pick up going forward.
Business is in David Stein and sister Kirstie’s blood – the brother and sister team not only run an award-winning butchers, David Stein Butchers in Bathgate but also have an award-winning Delicatessen and wine business, off-sales, cafe and two further Cafebar’s – 1912 in Bathgate and the most recently opened Cafebar 1807 in Linlithgow, both of which are also award-winning!
I caught up with David, and manager Gary, at his Cafebar 1807 in Linlithgow. The bar, formerly The Auld Hole in the Wall, opened earlier this year, and has been transformed from a traditional drinking howff into a stylish bar and restaurant which would not look out of place in any city centre.
However when it comes to David the phrase “Butcher, baker, candlestick maker’ has resonance – because although he was brought up a son of a butcher, and still runs the butchers with his sister, he has spent the last 35 years as a printer. He explains, “I never wanted to be a butcher directly, but I would work at night as a printer and during the day I would concentrate on how to develop the family business.”
David opened his first small restaurant 15 years ago called The Cottage. He explains, “It was at the time of the celebrity chef and I opened it with a friend. The idea was to promote the butchers by selling great steaks there. It also allowed us to learn about the hospitality side of the business.”
That was one of the reasons that he and Kirstie opened Cafebar 1912 in Bathgate five years ago. Says David, “It seemed like a natural progression. And a few of the people that we had working in the butcher’s came down and worked at the Cafe. It has worked really well. Our Bathgate business is very successful.”
He is hoping to replicate that success with Cafebar 1807. It was a mutual business contact who suggested to the owner, Colin Hilditch of Hilditch Inns, that David might be a potential candidate to take on the lease.”
Says David, “Colin and I knew each other because our families have both run businesses in this area for more than 40 years. I thought we could really make a go of it and Colin gave us that opportunity. He also supplied with me all the info and just about gave me carte blanche with the venue, although he did request that we kept the bar in the same place, and I’m glad we did that now. It has become a real focal point.”
David continues, “It was a very traditional venue which showed sports, but our idea was to make it user friendly. We are free of tie and now we are the first pub in West Lothian to sell Paelozzi lager on draught, and we also sell a lot of Morreti. They have never let me down. When it comes to spirits we keep it premium and I am also fussy about our coffee which I think is the best around – Cafe Milano.”
His manager Gary adds, “I worked for the previous owner and the transformation has been amazing. For instance, in the past, we always had door stewards on the door at the weekend. When David told us his plans for the venue I wasn’t sure that we would get away with not having door stewards on… but he was right. As soon as we opened as Cafebar1807 and people realised that it was quite different with table service, a contemporary look and a focus on food, the regulars moved on quite naturally.”
Says David, “We wanted to make the bar contemporary, with a more European feel, and of course we wanted it to be female friendly.” He adds, “We did all the interior fit-out ourselves. From picking the paint to making the tables. Although we did bring in a sound engineer to put the sound system in and a fabricator to do the metalwork.”
The cafebar, which David says is on the best site in West Lothian, has a window area with a waist-high bench which allows people to sit and enjoy a drink while the world walks by. David explains, “If you sit people in the window it makes the place look busy, but these are also seats which people really like because they can see everything that’s going on.”
The bar which was traditional mahogany has been painted pale grey and a modern metal shelving unit which is used to hang glassware on, while the wood panelling has all been painted a similar light colour. Immediately in front of the bar, there is a wooden floor with table and chairs where people can dine, and where they can sit with their dogs.
The dog-friendly aspect is important. Says David, “In Bathgate, we tried to introduce a dog-friendly culture after a couple of years, but when we surveyed our customers the idea got a 50/50 response. So we didn’t go with it, but when we opened here we decided to make it friendly from the get-go, and that has really worked. We don’t allow dogs in after 7ish and we also keep them off the carpeted area, but that apart they are welcome. And really with this being such a dog walking area, it was only sensible. Before we opened there were only two bars in Linlithgow who took dogs. Now pretty much every pub here is dog-friendly. When I was building this place I was watching thousands of people walking their dogs so it was really a no-brainer.”
Certainly, on the day I was there four dogs were comfortably seated with their respective owners who were enjoying lunch. (the owners that is)!
David is delighted with the way the business has developed at Cafe 1807. He tells me, “When I walk in here on a Saturday night I get goosebumps because it is running just the way I like it. When I walk through the door I want to see certain things – I want the music and lighting to be right and I want to see the staff moving about in the right way. He explains, “I go all over the place – Manchester, Liverpool, London you name it and I am always looking at the way things are run and what they look like. But honestly, when I walk in here on a Saturday night I know that we have got it right. We are also fortunate that we can supply the meat from our very own butchers – having good produce is the holy grail of the restaurant business, and we are very fortunate in that our supply chain is excellent. We’ve also got the added benefit of being able to manage our portion control because it comes prepared that way directly from the Butcher.”
Another practice that has stood David in good stead with the hospitality side of the businesses is good hygiene practice. He says, “Scottish butchers are the most highly regulated for hygiene in the whole of Europe, and we have continued this ethos in our Cafebar’s. But perhaps the biggest difference with David and Kirstie’s business is that they have been taking care of customers for 40 years. As a result customer service comes naturally and they try to impart this to their staff with ongoing training. Says David, “I think our customer service really is what makes us stand out from our competitors. We’ve taken the customer service ethos from our butchers and deli and tweaked it a bit. We don’t muck about if a customer has a complaint, whether we are in the wrong or not, they don’t pay. It’s not worth ruining our reputation for the price of a meal. People complain in threes – one thing goes wrong but they need to find another two things to justify it. I have a saying… Glad, sorry, sure… I’m glad you told us and I’m sorry it happened, but I’m sure we can fix it.”
He continues, “To be honest I man and operate my bars the way I would like to be served, and I like good service. Before we opened here we really trained our staff – we put them into Bathgate and as I use the same till system and same booking system there as here and despite the first three weeks being chaos here as the customers and staff got used to the new place, the staff were brilliant. Gary and Kieran, the other manager, have really helped too and have helped grow the business here. Gary adds, “I can honestly say the staff we now have here are the best team of people that I have worked with.”
If being a butcher, bar and restaurant operator and printer were not enough David is a former singer in a rock band too and as a result, he puts on a lot of live music in both his venues. Says David, “We put on more than 300 gigs a year! I’ve only three rules… no backing tracks, no Oasis and no Coldplay.”
Going forward David is already on the lookout for his next venue. He says, “Kirstie and I are partners but she very much concentrates on the butcher’s and off-sales side of the business and she has got very good at dealing with suppliers and has a keen interest in Gin- she’s become a bit of an expert. I used to do that, and that, in fact is how I got to know so many reps, but now I concentrate on the bar and restaurant side. I love it. But I don’t just like my own places, I love going to see other people’s places too. I’m definitely ready for another place now – and I am on the lookout.”
As well as being on the lookout for a new place the team are celebrating winning an Observer award. Says David, “As a small business we like to enter awards and we have been very fortunate to win a few. Just recently we won an Observer food award. It’s the 5th year in a row that we have reached the finals – in fact, we have more Observer awards than any other company in the UK.”
I cannot imagine these will be the only awards that David and Kirstie will pick up going forward. n
The newly op ened 1912 bistro in Bathgate is situated in an iconic building and a building that suffered from a lack of care and attention. That is until brother and sister combination, David and Kirsty Stein took over.
A unique building, splitting two streets, the sandstone finish to the building has been refreshed and supported by a beautifully modern three-wall glass front that gives the building a huge presence in a busy part of town.
As you walk in, it’s the height of the room that initially grabs your attention, before the modern staircase takes your eyes a walk up to the small mezzanine overlooking the modern bistro below. The room has a trianglular-like shape with industrial chic décor.
The bar faces you as you walk into the bistro, and it’s compact with a stainless steel bar and frame. Beneath it you will find Heineken’s new Frio drinks system.
The state-of-the-art single or two-tap dispense system has a built-in energy efficient cooler, which reduces running costs and improves draught pints.
Foot rests at the bar are actually the result of a design and ergonomic challenge, which owner David Stein met by designing a single pipe system which are actually radiators.
Explains David, “Because the walls are all glass, there was nowhere to put radiators and that created a real problem. I designed a single pipe heating system that runs alongside the bar, below knee level which hugs the bar. It’s really eco-friendly, but also looks really good. On top of that, people sitting at the bar can rest their feet on it, so it’s got several uses and is a great feature.” However recently it’s not the heating that has been the issue but the sun. Because of the glass front to the building, sunlight causes a real problem in terms of heating the venue. As such General Manager, John Owens and his team had to close for a period last week to get new air conditioning installed by Subcool.
The building was first completed in 1912, hence the name, and previously served as a hotel, a scone shop, a casino, a dance hall, a Ford car dealership, an insurance brokers, and latterly, a carpet store. David and Kirsty were familiar with the building because they run the local butchers, and already have a deli, tearoom and off-sales round the corner. Says Kirsty, “We knew we could do something with it.”
David and his team stripped it right back to expose the brickwork and original wooden beams, as well as leaving new steel beams on show.
“At no point previously would the wooden beams have been on show, so the fact they are is really nice,” David added. “The wood used throughout was reclaimed from the flooring at the local school gym hall. And Hargreaves Reclamation did a great job on that. In 1912 when the building was finished they put in a concrete floor, a new concept at the time, but one which we had a few problems with. We couldn’t get the wooden floor to sit level, so I started hacking away at the concrete with a grinder.
“That started to expose the real beauty of the floor, which has shades of red sandstone from the dust incorporated in it from the building’s brickwork. We got specialist flooring company, Corecut to work at polishing the concrete and it is a really unique finish to the floor – it’s a terrazzo tile look.”
The dark finish to the wooden tables offers a nice contrast to the natural light that floods the building, with colourful seated cushions on the adjoining window benches offering a welcome splash of colour.
That is accentuated by the array of reds on the high up light shades and spectacular teardrop shaped speakers that look like raindrops caught on camera as they drip towards the ground, radiating a warm red as well as the relaxing music perfectly fitted to the ambience of the bistro.
The attention to detail and love with which the building has been restored, certainly seems to have been appreciated by customers.
John tells us, “We have been very busy since we opened four weeks ago. People do come in for a pint, but it’s not really a bar at the moment, it’s more of a bistro. We get a lot of people on a Friday and Saturday who want something a little different, who want the city bar experience but don’t want to have to go into Edinburgh or Glasgow, they want something on their doorstep.”
The bistro has 70 covers and is licensed for 100 but the kitchen itself is very small. But Mike Harper from Caterfix Scotland, who supplied all the catering equipment, including ovens, hobs, coffee machine, even dishwashers, is very impressed with the end product and believes it maximises its potential.
He told DRAM, “We were restricted by the size of the premises and some of the space might be tight behind the scenes, but it is a building that maximises the chance to make money from the asset. We are very impressed with the finished product. We believe we have given them the facilities to remain busy at any time of the day. They have a kitchen that works well to provide breakfasts, lunch and even dinner, as well as snacks.”
And John agrees, “We can adapt to provide customers what they want and we’re happy to listen to them – if they would like to see a new dish on the menu we are happy to accommodate them. I really love that freedom to make changes. We can genuinely make the difference for customers.”
The bar stools and chairs are upholstered in distressed brown leather, while the banquette seating at the tables is in a darker brown. Bar stools at the window are in copper and topped with lustrous dark wooden seats, while there are lower-height stools in polished copper.
Again, this is very much in keeping with the dining menu, which includes mains like venison and haggis Wellington with wild mushroom skirlie and port jus and roast monkfish with ginger ribbon vegetables. There is banquette seating on either side of the dining area, with small tables set for two to four people as well as wooden topped round tables which seat up to six, for larger groups. The colour palette is subtle – with slate tiles on the floor, and chairs upholstered in a mix of brown, teal and light lime green. On the walls, exposed brickwork gives way to flock wallpaper in taupe and blue, etched with fabulous peacocks and butterflies.