July 2022

14 NEWS
First for Virgin
outside US
Commons Club opens for business
By PHYLLIS STEPHEN
VIRGIN HOTELS Edinburgh, the
first outside the US, has just
officially opened its doors to the
public. The Commons Club is
billed by the company as an
“modern day social club”, and the
restaurant and bar will be open all
day. Chef Steven Wilson is coming
home to the capital and is
creating a range of dishes with
Scottish seasonal fare, from
Wagyu Tataki using Scottish
Wagyu beef to Risotto using
Scottish farm spelt and barley.
The hotel has been created
from India Buildings on Victoria
Street but will extend all the way
to the Cowgate with 222
Niki Hutchison
Niki makes it to
champions final
Simply the best at growing her audience
By OLIVIA THOMAS
NIKI HUTCHISON has been named as
one of six finalists in the Women’s
Champion category of the Digital
Women Awards 2022 after her huge
success in offering online support. She
began a free Facebook support group for
other businesswomen and now has a
community of around 25,000.
Niki said: “I was delighted to have made
the shortlist,.
“To get recognition at a national level really
does give you an extra boost and remind you
why you’re working so hard.”
She set up The Simplicity Concept to help
support women in business in 2017. Two years
later she rebranded to her own name and
found her specialty in supporting
entrepreneurial women to grow their audiences.
Niki used to host in-person networking
events in Edinburgh but during the pandemic
migrated those to online where she runs a free
Facebook group - the Audience Growth
Collective, a weekly podcast called the
Audience Growth Podcast and a group
programme called the Audience Growth
Club as well as her marketing agency,
Enjoy Marketing.
Niki said she first set up the community to
Chambers and Grand Chamber
Suites. The hotel site is also home
to a 19th century church, known
as Greyfriars Hall, that is being
restored and repurposed as a
special event venue. The hotel
will offer a rooftop sanctuary
with unobstructed views of
Edinburgh Castle.
Scott McArdle, General
Manager of Virgin Hotels
Edinburgh, commented:
“Edinburgh is such an iconic city
and we’re thrilled it will be the
home of our flagship restaurant
and bar within the first Virgin
Hotels in the UK and across
Europe. Commons Club is a
unique offering that will
complement the current offering
of the hotel. The food and drink
menus will bring an array of local
flavours to the table and can’t
wait to welcome everyone in to
try them.”
Steven Wilson, Executive Chef
of Virgin Hotels Edinburgh, said:
"After years of travelling the world
and working in some
unforgettable restaurants and
hotels, I'm so excited to be back in
grow her own support network and create
opportunities to work with other women and
help them to grow their businesses as well.
She said: “I needed a new challenge and I was
really keen to surround myself with likeminded
women in my working life,”
“Entrepreneurial women growing all sorts of
businesses are now part of the community. They
live all across the UK and beyond and are
ambitious, determined and inclusive. They want
to support each other on the journey.
“Women in the community regularly work
with each other. As well as teaching members
how to grow their audiences and ultimately sell
more, I always buy from as many of them as I
can and the opportunities that come from the
group are great to see. Just this week someone
in the group shared that they had space for a
new client, and another member booked a call
with her the same day. It can happen that fast.”\
Members of Niki's group get marketing and
business tips and can access her regular, free
masterclasses. In February next year, Niki plans
to team up with other entrepreneurial Niki Hutchison women
to bring together marketing experts and host a
large scale in-person event in Edinburgh.
The Digital Women awards ceremony is
on Friday 14 October at The Ivy,
Tower Bridge, London.
Interior of The Commons
Club on Victoria Street
my hometown and to be part of
this opening in Edinburgh. We
really do have access to the
highest quality local produce
right on our doorstep in Scotland
and that’s something the menu at
Commons Club celebrates. Guests
will enjoy our timeless menu that
will continue to evolve with the
seasons, keeping them coming
back time and time again.”
Brian
Corcoran
Tech fest makes
capital return
THE LEADING tech conference in Europe,
Turing Fest, will return to Edinburgh with
more than a thousand people expected to
attend the event at Edinburgh
International Conference Centre (EICC).
Turing Fest on 27 and 28 July will include
interviews, networking and parties with
presentations from more than 40 speakers.
Founders and leaders of startups and more
established organisations will be brought
together to help make connections which
improve their businesses.
During the pandemic, Turing Fest
Founder and CEO Brian Corcoran
spearheaded an open letter to the Scottish
Government signed by 50 Scottish tech
company CEOs. This open letter was
followed by the Scottish Government
commissioning the Logan Report
signalling a renewed focus on the industry.
This year’s top tier speaker line-up
includes Paul Adams, CPO of Intercom,
Maria Gutierrez, VP of Engineering at
Twitter, Jonny Brooks-Bartlett, Senior
Engineer at Spotify, Shane Curran, CEO of
Evervault, April Dunford, Founder of
Ambient Strategy, and Rob Walling,
Co-Founder of TinySeed, with more
speakers still to be announced.
Brian Corcoran said: “We’re extremely
excited to be bringing some of the best
minds in the global technology industry
back under one roof fully in person
in Edinburgh.”
The purpose of Turing Fest is to bring
people together from across the tech
industry with diverse skills, from different
geographies and backgrounds, to learn
together to help people get better at what
they do professionally so they can build
better startups and scaleups.
“The conference typically has a great
atmosphere: the attendees are keen to
learn, the speakers are keen to teach,
everyone is open to sharing - and they all
want to have fun together. It makes for a
wonderful community, a genuinely fun
and enlightening few days, and gives
many startups a better chance of success.
“The future of Scotland’s economy is
going to be built on the tech industry, and
on startups and scaleups. We’ve worked
closely to support Mark Logan’s work over
the past two years in highlighting this and
are delighted to see the commitment from
Kate Forbes and the Scottish Government
in driving the agenda forward.”