Grantown’s Avenue/Pagoda to reopen as an Anderson restaurant
Published: 11:40, 22 August 2026
| Updated: 11:45, 22 August 2026
Grantown’s popular off-beat venue The Pagoda is preparing for another incarnation - as the second of Steven Anderson’s Strathspey restaurants.
Mr Anderson told the Strathy that the move was the realisation of a long-held ambition to extend his well established base in Boat of Garten.
“It’s been a plan for nearly 20 years,” he said. “We’ve taken over the Avenue/Pagoda on Seafield Road and over the next few weeks we’ll be busy turning it into our new restaurant.”
The Strathy reported in June that Ian and Elizabeth Boyd, who took on the quirky, 1997-built premises in 2014 to establish it as a community arts, education and events centre, had decided to close as a result of their current ‘catastrophic’ costs.
But Mr Anderson’s vision is “pretty simple – good, honest food, using great local and Scottish produce, in a relaxed restaurant where everyone feels welcome.”
It will be a phased project, he explained: “We’re deliberately starting small. To begin with, The Avenue will open in the evenings with a seasonal à la carte menu, very much centred around the local and Scottish produce we’re lucky enough to have around us.
“And because I know it’s probably the first thing many will be wondering about, I should make it plain that we won’t be serving pizzas when we first open.”
Pizza has become a significant part of Andersons over the years and while the plan was to bring the restaurant’s wood-fired pizzas to the Strathspey capital, both sit-in and takeaway, it would be necessary to install a proper wood-fired oven first.
“I would rather wait and do it properly than rush something just because people are expecting it,” he said.
Ideally he would be introducing the pizza menu after Christmas and from there continue building things up, with the plan to be serving brunch, lunch and dinner alongside a full takeaway pizza service by Easter.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from nearly 20 years of running Andersons, it’s not to try to do too much too quickly. We’ll open each part gradually, find our feet, get it right, and then move on to the next phase.
“There’s a fair bit of work to do before we open the doors. I’m also looking for a chef as I need an experienced right-hand person for Grantown. Someone reliable, who can cook to a high standard, loves working with local and seasonal produce and wants to be part of building something from the beginning.”
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