The owners of hospitality businesses are known to be grafters, and there might be no better example of that than the owners of two-time SLTN Gastropub of the Year The Boar’s Head.
Owners David Nolan and Justina Jonikaite took on the Auchtermuchty property – parts of which date back 300 years – in December 2020. To say it was in a bad way would be an understatement.
“The rats were running riot,” David recalled last month when SLTN visited the venue.
“There was a 20 litre drum of oil. They’d chewed the lid out and then, of course, dropped into the oil. There were two massive rats perfectly pickled in the oil.
“We spent the next six to eight weeks just chasing them out of the place. It was brutal.”
The local wildlife was far from the only problem. The building, which had been known as The Boar’s Head in the past but was most recently The Forest Hills Hotel, was severely in need of some TLC.
In addition to completely refurbishing the bar, lounge and restaurant areas of the pub, the roof was leaking, the kitchen needed upgraded and the toilets were in dire need of replacement.
“Everyone was like, ‘hang on, you’re buying a derelict old boozer in the middle of rural Fife at the height of Covid?’ And we were like ‘yeah! It’s going to be great!’” said David.
“They thought we were absolutely mental. And I suppose we were. Anyone with a vision, it kind of works because no one else sees it.”
But David and Justina did see it and, little by little, the project began to take shape.
David continued his career managing construction projects Monday to Friday to keep money coming in while Justina, a twenty-year hospitality veteran who had worked for Young’s in London and Prezzo in Edinburgh, oversaw the refurbishment.
“The amount of buckets we had strewn about this place catching water,” recalled David. “And the wind howled straight through this place.
“It was just a miserable place to live. It really was. So credit to Justina. I had a nice warm hotel.”
And the couple roped in every family member they could to help out.
“We wouldn’t have been able to do it without friends and family, because of the amount of free labour that we got from them,” said David. “And they had good skillsets. Not professional skillsets, but they were good enough to get us going. And if it wasn’t for all that free labour we would have been snookered.”
After nearly nine months of hard graft, The Boar’s Head opened its doors in August 2021.
Justina said the goal from day one was to create ‘a cosy, local gastropub with very good, local food’.
“Local, honest food,” she said. “And just have a good atmosphere. And I think we manage to get that from the staff.
“And I think the customers come back for both, not just for one side. I think we’ve very much achieved that.”
The business quite quickly made waves, picking up SLTN’s New Business of the Year award in 2022, before winning Gastropub of the Year in both 2024 and 2025.
The food and drink offer at The Boar’s Head was always built around local produce, but over the years it has evolved to become ‘nose to tail’, with the kitchen team making use of everything they can to maximise produce and minimise waste.
And the pub has built a level of trust with its customers, which has allowed the introduction of slightly more unusual dishes to the menu.
Examples include the venue’s pig’s head terrine, created using pigs the team has reared in conjunction with a local farmer.
“We had a lot of customers in the first year wanting burgers and fish and chips, because these are the items everyone goes for the first time they go to a place because these are the things that should be at some level good,” said Justina.
“Then they come the next time and try something different, because they trust you. Now we’re at the stage where everybody trusts whatever is on the menu.”
Elsewhere, suppliers include Scottish businesses Balcaskie Estate (beef), Mark Murphy (fruit and veg), David Lowrie (fish), John Henderson (meat) and veg supplier Pillars of Hercules, which is growing particular vegetables to order for next year’s menus.
On the drinks side, suppliers include Tennent’s and Hallgarten Wines.
While the flavour is distinctly Scottish, David – who hails originally from Corby – said the inspiration for the venue was drawn from south of the border.
“With Justina working in London and elsewhere we took a lot of inspiration from the Young’s pub group,” he said. “They act very vibrant, with very well decorated pubs.
“The vibrancy, the warmth, the ambience that creates. We wanted to take that. This is very much an English-style gastropub, there’s no doubt about it.”
The past year has seen the pub move into ‘phase two’ of its life, with the first four letting bedrooms fully refurbed and opened.
There are a further four to be converted (currently being used as the owners’ accommodation), as well as a function space at the rear of the building, which was in the early stages of refurbishment at the time of writing, before The Boar’s Head has reached its full potential.
And, as with so many in the trade, that progress – so consistent for the first few years in business – has stalled due to the rising cost of trade and the impact on profit margins.
In order to maximise revenues the pub will be moving from an a la carte menu to set menus this year, as well as a possible cut to trading hours.
So far, the owners have resisted bringing any investors into the business, but David said that, too, might be reconsidered.
“It’s something that, out of pride, we don’t want to do,” he said.
“We want to own this ourselves and develop this ourselves. But when you’re backed into a corner you might not have a choice. And this is a very spend money make money business, so each phase that is complete will add more business, will generate more income.
“So you spend a bit more money, you make a bit more money. So it’s not just wasted. It’s spend with purpose. And once we have all four phases complete that’s three businesses in one building, effectively. So you’ll have the gastropub, you’ll have the function suite. And then you’ll have eight letting rooms. But unless we can unlock each phase and start trading as we want to, it’s just that little bit clunky.”
However they proceed it’ll be another monumental effort but, as the owners and their team have already more than proven, they’re not scared of a little hard work.
