The Claymore restaurant

"When I was building the Claymore, we wanted to open the restaurant seven days a week.

"I spoke to an official. Some people thought it was good and others were not that keen. I went to see the minister, the Rev Archie MacVicar and he said 'Oh, I heard that you were opening it 7 days a week. I understand where you’re coming from. When I go to the mainland, and unless there are members of my flock there, I’ve got to go and eat in a restaurant.' I said 'Well I’m glad you’re seeing it that way'. Rev said 'Did you speak to my elders?'. 'No', I said 'and I’ve got no intention of speaking to them.'

"Three years after that, you had the minister lying at the pier at Kyleakin, waiting for the first ferry to cross on a Sunday. The Claymore had opened three years previously. There were journalists there from all over Europe, from Le Monde etc., and they were waiting for 3-4 hours in the morning but the ferry never arrived. Some of them got fed up and decided to drive up through Skye. When they got to Broadford, they saw this restaurant open, so they came in to see us and we were having a laugh.

"We had to live on the island here and we had to get tourism going, and I didn’t see any harm in it. Tourists were coming from all over Skye to get fed because there wasn’t anywhere else open."

As told by Neil MacKinnon

More information on visiting the area can be found here.