Moffat licensee Jim Hughes remembered across industry he loved
TRIBUTES have been paid to licensed trade stalwart Jim Hughes, who passed away last month after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease.
A past president of both the Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) and the 49 Wine & Spirit Club, Jim was heavily involved in a trade he loved.
A joiner to trade, Jim had various jobs, from bus driver to bread salesman, before realising a long-held ambition to own a pub when he bought The Black Bull in Moffat in 1986 and relocated from his home city of Glasgow.
“Why he picked The Black Bull, I have no idea,” said lifelong friend Ian Duncan in Jim’s eulogy.
“Perhaps Moffat picked the man but off he went, selling up in Glasgow and moving to Moffat and The Black Bull and starting the next stage of his life.
“Moffat didn’t know what hit it when the wee Glasgow guy with a dodgy perm arrived.
“He had no experience and just learned on the job.
“But the locals soon took him into their hearts as he set about making The Black Bull the place to be.”
After 21 years at the helm, Jim sold The Black Bull and retired to Spain with wife Karen in 2007, before the pull of family saw them return to Moffat in 2013; and it wasn’t long before Jim was helping out daughter Sasha, who ran The Stag hotel in the town.
A few years later and Jim was, again, planning to retire. But when the opportunity to acquire former retail premises in Moffat arose, he couldn’t resist; and he and his family launched Scottish tapas bar and restaurant Hugo’s in July 2019.
Speaking to SLTN after the launch of Hugo’s, Jim said: “This is a great trade, I love it. It gets into your blood.
“I was planning to retire but I was walking up the street one day and I saw this building was going to auction and that was it.
“It’s a family business and it means a lot.”
