The future of The Venue at Eskmills

Play Video from Oliver Stephen, owner of Eskmills >

Over the past year, it has been a real privilege to host so many special celebrations at The Venue. From weddings and family occasions to community and business events. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has trusted us with such important moments and have enjoyed hosting thousands of guests in our wonderful space.

After very careful consideration, we have taken the difficult decision to close The Venue at the end of 2026.

This has not been an easy decision. Like many businesses in the hospitality and events sector, we have faced significant economic pressures with rapidly rising costs creating an increasingly challenging operating environment. Despite exploring every option available to us, we do not believe The Venue can continue as a sustainable business.

We have planned this decision carefully to minimise the impact on our customers and the East Lothian community. Confirmed events before closure remain in place unless we have spoken to customers directly, and we remain fully committed to delivering those events to the highest standard.

There are 15 affected bookings from April 2027 onwards. Each customer has already been contacted directly. All deposits paid to us are being refunded in full and our team is offering all the assistance we can.

One of our final events will be the Christmas charity community lunch on 1st December 2026, which feels like a fitting way to thank the local community for its support over the years. Although we’ve only managed it for a year we do understand that it’s been a popular event destination for many since 2008 and will be missed.

Eskmills remains a thriving enterprise community, home to more than 100 businesses and around 800 people across the site. While we are very sorry that the venue cannot continue in its current form, this change will allow us to support growing local businesses, create further employment opportunities, and continue investing in Eskmills as a place where enterprise and community can flourish, as East Lothian’s largest business destination.

We know this news will be disappointing to many, and we do not take that lightly. We are deeply grateful for the kindness and support we have received, and we will continue to do everything we can to support our customers, our team, and the wider Eskmills community through this transition.

If you have a booking placed or had made enquiries for a pending event at The Venue and need to know more, please call the team on 0131 380 5848 or email thevenue@eskmills.com. We will be operating as normal until the end of 2026.

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