On the remote Scottish island, a smoking opportunity is waiting

If you are the right candidate, Richard Irvine will give you his business and train you to run it. He will throw up his keys, customers and secrets to smoke fishing – all free.

The catch: You must be committed to living on a remote Scottish island called Colonsay. Population 125.

There is already a global competition for the position.

Mr. Irvine, 65, the Colonsay Rokerie In 2022 and the company built up with the intention of giving it away, he said on Tuesday in a telephone interview. The interest in giveaway action is high, he said, and he has more candidates than he expected. He hopes to choose a receiver through Midsummer.

“I get a lot of questions from people I would call dreamers and twilight,” said Mr. Irvine. “They just came from St. Lucia, while we talk,” he added about a candidate of the Caribbean island nation.

Mr. Irvine has also received dozens of questions from candidates and news media requests from Italy, Spain and the United States, since the BBC in Scotland, since the BBC in Scotland wrote about the offer On Monday. “How I will filter this, I have no idea,” he said.

In a world torn apart by wars and economic struggles, the idea of ​​life on one Remote Scottish Island Can hold allure for many people – even when it comes to smoking fish for a living. Colonsay, Mr. Irvine said, is a great place to escape from the hustle and bustle of the existence of the big city.

The island is of the West Coast of Scotland In the Atlantic Ocean, about 20 miles from the mainland, and can be reached by ferry. It is about two miles wide and 10 miles long, with sandy beaches, picturesque paths, a golf course, a bookstore, various eating and drinking holes and a local publication, The Colonsay timesThat comes out of season, once in winter, spring, summer and autumn.

The last time the island made international headlines was then The Times of Britain unveiled In March, an Irish banker who was accused of fraud had been avoided the law enforcement authorities for many years by adopting a new identity and living as a builder on Colonsay, starting around 2012.

The banker became the builder ‘a really charming guy’, if not really a professional, Mr. Irvine said, but he ‘just disappeared’.

The smoking project stemmed from a plan that was wrong.

Mr. Irvine and his wife, Pru Irvine, who went on a honeymoon on the island, had planned an early retirement on Colonsay as soon as their youngest son, who has a learning disability, lived independently. But the pandaemia derailed the plans of their son and Mrs. Irvine remained with him on the mainland, south of Edinburgh, while Mr. Irvine worked on their house on Colonsay.

He became sharply aware of a problem that teases the place where he holds. “We just need more young people,” he said.

There are around 75 people older than 65 and about 45 working people with different children, he said. There are few Affordable houses On Colonsay and not many jobs, making it difficult for the community to attract new families.

Several pensioners are committed to the Community Development Company to work on the housing issue, so Mr. Irvine thought he would do his part by creating an economic opportunity. He describes himself as a ‘serial business maker’ who has worked in construction, as a chef and as head of a brand consultancy.

But Mr. Irvine had never run a fish smoking company when he started establishing the Colonsay smoker with the support of a Norwegian seafood company, Mowi, which has a salmon farming company on the island and agreed to provide him with a preferred rate. Mowi, who has also been involved in local efforts for housingdid not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Mr. Irvine says that he has spent around 50,000 pounds – around $ 65,000 – to the project, revived an abandoned farm, received a permit and learn to fill fish, cure and smoke. Preparing the product is a five -day process in which preparations and fileting, debit card and drying, smoking, cutting and packaging are.

He sells his products locally, to high-end lelists on the mainland and by mail order. He says that he has earned back his investment and can hand over the Rokerie without costs to “someone who does not have £ 50,000” but longs to have his or her own affairs.

There are specific characteristics that he thinks the ideal candidate should have. The person would most likely be half a young professional couple or family, where one partner works remotely from Colonsay and the other smokehouse.

“It’s a big leap to make,” he admitted.

Still, he said, there are rewards.

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“I like to wake up and see nature,” he said, “but I also like to go to the pub and stand with the man who does the bins” – as when collecting the waste – “on the same footing.”