Owner Henry Fitzsimmons has been busy investing and expanding The Fitzsimmons Group – a family-run business that has quality four-star Ayrshire hotels at its heart.
The group’s head office is located at the Riverside Lodge in Irvine, a hotel that benefited from a £2m investment in its function areas, bedrooms, bar and restaurant. A further expansion of The Riverside to add a gym and spa is at the planning stage. The group employs over 80 people.
The Fitzsimmons Group just added The Fenwick Hotel to its portfolio, where an extensive refurbishment is currently underway that includes a new function suite, bedrooms, bar, restaurant and front of house areas.
Henry has owned and operated The Brisbane House Hotel for over 12 years, and Oscars Bar & Grill in Saltcoats, including a two-screen cinema with Dolby surround sound, a soft play area, café and cinema themed bar diner, since 2017.
With strong roots in Ayrshire, he has over five decades’ operating experience the area, employing hundreds of locals along the way and reinvesting in the part of Scotland where he grew up. He’s proudly built his business with an unswerving focus on customer service, quality staff, plus that dedication to continually reinvest.
Its hotels are based entirely on maximising the customer experience, and as a small, family-owned group it has the benefits of knowing its suppliers and working with local businesses to support one another. Their chefs source only the finest local ingredients from local suppliers.
They likewise always listen to their guests, are proud to work with the local community, and fly the flag for one of the most beautiful places in the world. Ayrshire hospitality is a brand standard at The Fitzsimmons Group. The group’s focus has always been set on the highest quality of customer service and they have married this with loyal, well-trained staff.
Group Director of Operations for the group, Martin Scott, said, “I’ve been working alongside Mr Fitzsimmons since 2009 and watched this business grow from strength to strength, always with a focus on reinvesting in the businesses and its people.
“Twelve years of success at The Brisbane House hotel reaffirms the company’s position to refurbish regularly, move with the times and adapt to stay ahead of the market. We have invested heavily in staff training, retention and recruitment, bringing in some of the top staff in the country to help us grow.
“The Fitzsimmons Group is now a real competitor in this wonderfully competitive Ayrshire market and we strive to deliver the best customer experience to be the group of choice in the area. We’ll be launching loyalty cards in summer 2019, members incentives and discounts and continue to offer the best wedding packages, room rates and F&B offering in the area. We’ve worked tirelessly bringing the four units together and launch The Fitzsimmons group and we’re very excited to see what the future brings.”
The group’s various function suites across Ayrshire are the perfect spaces for weddings, private dining, corporate meeting rooms and intimate dinners.
Sourcing the finest ingredients from Ayrshire, one of the world’s best natural larders, is an important consideration for the group’s four restaurants and underpins the regularly changing menus. Their team of chefs work closely with local suppliers to not only ensure the customers’ dining experience is an unforgettable one, but to support local producers and strengthen ties with the Ayrshire community.
Each hotel has a dedicated and passionate wedding coordinator to ensure the highest level of service and standards for wedding business while showcasing the undeniable beauty of Ayrshire, whether that’s the magnificent sunsets enjoyed at the waterfront setting of the Brisbane House Hotel in Largs, the dramatic, rugged coastline of Saltcoats, the sweeping, stretching beaches of Irvine or the serenity and gorgeous surrounding countryside of Fenwick, Fitzsimmons always deliver on its unique and generous brand of Ayrshire hospitality.