#restauranter

February 9th 2002 saw the death of John Noble, co-founder of Loch Fyne Oysters and Loch Fyne Restaurants.

n 1978, Noble was looking for a way to help support the estate, which he had inherited, along with considerable debts, from his father in 1972. When Andrew Lane, a marine farmer, suggested the idea of growing oysters, Noble was immediately enthused.

Recalling that in his childhood he had ground up oyster shells to feed to the hens, he was also aware that the unpolluted Loch Fyne waters, warmed by the Gulf stream, would be ideal for growing shellfish.

However, when he told his bank that he was going to lay an oyster bed, they were unimpressed. “Everyone must have a hobby, Mr Noble,” they responded.

But Noble realised that oysters, which had once been a cheap staple in Scotland, could again be popularised. “We were,” he recalled, “reverting to an ancient tradition.”

The venture grew from a few hundred seed oysters to the millions that are laid down today. Noble and Lane created a flourishing industry, and Loch Fyne Oysters are now exported to shops and supermarkets across the world.

Noble himself became something of an oyster expert. He had an encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of oyster growing and a great love of bivalve trivia; he enjoyed explaining the prodigious feeding habits of oysters, which, when in search of food, filter so much seawater that, were they the size of humans, they would down the equivalent of five municipal swimming pools a day.

Soon Loch Fyne Oysters was branching out with oak-smoked salmon, mussels, langoustines and many other delicacies, which are sold through Noble’s successful mail order business.

In 1980, Noble and Lane decided to set up an oyster bar at the head of Loch Fyne. It began as an umbrella and a trestle table and was then transferred to a nearby cowshed. Soon the venture had become a restaurant, open all day (which particularly suited Noble, who regularly took breakfast there) and serving oysters on ice and fresh seafood in simple surroundings.

Noble’s ethos, that anybody should be able to enjoy good food at a reasonable price, proved highly successful, and Loch Fyne Restaurants is now a large chain of eateries.

Noble was immensely proud that his smokery, restaurant and mail order business at Ardkinglas provided “as many, if not more, jobs” than it did when it was a traditional working estate in his great-grandfather’s day. At the time of his death, his enterprises employed more than 100 local people.

Unfortunately due to spiralling costs the majority of the Loch Fyne restaurants have now closed. At its largest, the chain had over 40 restaurants. Some had already closed by 2020, and due to the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, Loch Fyne permanently closed 11 more restaurants, with further closures following and the last restaurants closing in November 2023.

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May 9th 2002 saw the death of Johnny Noble, co-founder of Loch Fyne Oysters and Loch Fyne Restaurants.

Johnny did national service with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders after which he joined the merchant bank S. G. Warburg. He then worked in a Yugoslavian wine firm before starting his own company in London, French & Foreign Wines, which continued after 1972 when he started spending part of his time running the estate. When he inherited Ardkinglas it was making a loss, saddled with heavy death duties and a large work force. 

  And so it was  in 1978, he was looking for a way to help support his estate of Ardkinglas, on the shores of Loch Fyne, which he had inherited along with considerable debts. When Andrew Lane, a marine farmer, suggested the idea of growing oysters in the unpolluted waters of Loch Fyne, he jumped at the idea. The venture grew from a few hundred seed oysters to the millions that are laid down today. In 1980, Noble and Lane set up an oyster bar at the head of Loch Fyne. It began as an umbrella and a trestle table and then transferred to a cowshed. Soon the venture became a restaurant, and then evolved into a chain of oyster bars.

He read avidly on historical, biographical and culinary subjects, played curling, was a good shot, and loved his arboretum. Building on the remains of his grandfather’s collection of silver he added many fine pieces of old Scottish silver.

Celebrities would be a common sight, even if the hosts often didn't recognise them. Andy Lane once commented in an interview;

He said: "The funny thing is that for years you could hardly watch TV there because the reception was so lousy and so customers used to tell us that such and such a person had been in the restaurant.

"None of us had a clue because we didn't know what a lot of these people would look like.

"We did get more tuned in later on, though. Robbie Coltrane was a regular and always very popular with the staff.

"We saw Billy Connolly a few times, Clint Eastwood was in and poor old Dustin Hoffman got turned away two days running because we couldn't find him a seat. He took it very well."

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