There is no doubt about it when Bill Costley of Costley Hotels and hhis team decide to embark on a renovation they put their heart and soul into it – and their latest extension to 
Lochgreen House Hotel in Troon is no exception.
The recently-opened Copper Beech Cocktail Lounge is a joy to behold. Director Bill Costley has always been a stickler for perfection and that is evident when you see the quality of the finish. He told Hotel Scotland, “We want to make Lochgreen just brilliant. It is a great hotel, but we always want to make it an even better experience for our guests.
“We have very successful banqueting and private dining facilities at Lochgreen but we felt
we were losing business because we weren’t fulfilling the experience at Lochgreen that we were doing initially. The banqueting and private dining tended to take the hotel over.”
Fellow Director Michael Poggi adds, “We planned this before the pandemic and had done drawings which we then gave to the engineers. We have always found that if you do that first, you get a design that everyone is comfortable with. You also have to get the provenance right and if you do that generally the planning process is less complicated.”
Certainly, looking at the new extension from the outside, it looks like it has always been there, which is a feat in 
itself considering that Lochgreen House is listed.
Halcion Limited delivered all of the foundation piles, groundworks, and structural timber for the Copper Beech Lounge at Lochgreen House Hotel. The multi-disciplinary construction and engineering company had worked with the team at Lochgreen before.
David Barr, Managing Director Halcion Limited comments, “From the outset Halcion was keen to be involved in this project. Having worked on previous projects with Bill, Michael and the team at Lochgreen we knew that it would be a dynamic and exciting experience.”
He continues, “We knew from the start that the Copper Beech Cocktail Lounge had a high level of structural complexity but, as is always the case in the hospitality sector, the biggest 
challenge would be delivering a construction project without disruption to hotel guests and patrons.
“We embraced the challenge of installing over 50 foundation piles adjacent to a listed building whilst adjusting our working shifts to accommodate the busy calendar of weddings and events going on in the hotel throughout the construction works.”
The Drawing room in the hotel now has large French windows which take you out to the Copper Beech balcony area, which was Michael’s idea. Says Bill, “I wanted to facilitate access from the Drawing Room through to the new building and Michael came up with the idea of the balcony.”
Although you can access the Copper Beech from the Drawing Room, the main entrance is via the Hotel’s reception area, and guests certainly get the wow factor when they get to the 
top of the stairs. Says Bill, “It gives guests a sense of arrival.”
It certainly does. The tiled balcony area and stairs lead down into a 20m long room with a wall of windows. This leads out to the garden which is getting upgraded too.
There is a striking bar to the left which has been created by Character Joinery who did all the woodwork. Michael comments, “We like to use people that are local and who are very passionate – like Character Joinery. They are exceptional. They really are at the top of their game. They also created our central table, which is a real statement piece.”
The bespoke bar features stained glass from another local creative and a stained glass window has been created on the opposite side of the bar. The bar stretches almost the 
entire width of the room and the Costley team decided to utilise HEINEKEN SmartDispense® for their draught cider and beer experience having already installed it in their other venues.
HEINEKEN SmartDispense® is a cutting-edge draught technology solution that delivers a consistently top-quality draught product while being more sustainable versus traditional dispense systems. The SmartDispense® CellarPro system reduces up to 85% of water, beer and cider wastage, saves 156 line cleaning hours and provides peace of mind for operators.
Says Michael, “We knew where the cellar was going and what we needed to do. We like SmartDispense because the product that comes out is great – everyone gets the same quality pint all the time. and it is green and saves money.”
The décor in the Copper Beech Lounge is classically understated. It’s a room which totally fits the expression ‘inside outside.’ The colour scheme of sage green and white is complimented by the dark green fitted seating and the leather chairs which come in shades of gold and dark green.
However, Bill says, “I think it still needs to be softened up a wee bit yet. But that will come with time.” There is no doubt about it that Lochgreen House Hotel is reaping the benefits of the ongoing investment that Costley & Costley has made and keeps making – before the pandemic its new Wedding Suite opened, and now with the new Copper Lounge and improved Drawing Room, it is ideally positioned to make the most of the upcoming 152nd Open at Royal Troon in July.
Bill concludes, “We are looking forward to it. Spending so much time and effort on Lochgreen is a very personal thing. To us, it is never just a building.”
Adds Michael, “While we own the building it has to be the best it has ever been. In 50 years’ time someone else will own it, we are only caretakers for the time we have it.”