What The Reel was: café bar, music school and venue under one roof

The Reel opened in 2004, founded by Orkney fiddle and guitar players Jennifer and Hazel Wrigley, and ran for the best part of two decades as an unusual hybrid. A café bar sat alongside a multi-instrumental music school, a small shop, a concert venue and an exhibition space. The founders describe it as a community asset that combined tuition in fiddle, guitar, cello, bass, woodwind, brass, drums and traditional voice with a social space and a stage.

For a visitor, that mix meant you could eat and drink in the same building where Orkney's traditional music was being taught and performed. It was open six days a week year-round and seven days a week in summer, according to the founders' own account of the business. That is the closest the record gets to opening hours, and none apply now.

Why it closed: pandemic shutdown, then a permanent decision

The Reel stopped trading in mid-March 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic arrived, and it did not reopen when other Orkney businesses were able to. In August 2020 the owners announced they would step down from running it and sought a buyer; a short time later they confirmed the business would close permanently from mid-November 2020. The council's own statement acknowledges the venue's role in Orkney's cultural life and calls the cessation of trading regrettable.

One date worth treating carefully is the founders' page wording that refers to 'closure in March 2019 due to Covid 19'. That does not match the council's account of a mid-March 2020 shutdown and a final closure announced for mid-November 2020, so rely on the 2020 sequence. Either way, the practical point for a visitor is the same: nothing has traded from this address for several years.

Where it sits: three storeys on Broad Street, next to St Magnus Cathedral

The building is a three-storey property on Broad Street, the spine of central Kirkwall, and it stands next door to St Magnus Cathedral. You cannot miss the cathedral, so use it as your marker: the former Reel is the neighbouring address rather than a destination in its own right. The premises are owned by Orkney Islands Council, which leased the building to the business.

Because it is in the middle of town, you will pass it on almost any walk through the centre, whether you arrive by ferry into Kirkwall harbour or by bus from elsewhere on Orkney Mainland. There is no car park, ticket desk or entrance sign to look for; this is a street address, not a visitor attraction. Treat it as a landmark on the way to something else.

What you'll find there now: a closed building, not a café

Do not plan a meal, a drink or a music session here. The café bar, shop and venue closed with the business in 2020, and the property subsequently lay unused for more than five years. There are no published opening hours, no entry charge and no booking to make, because there is nothing open to the public.

That makes The Reel a curiosity rather than a stop: worth knowing about if you remember it, or if you are tracing Orkney's contemporary music story, but not worth building a day around. Anyone hoping for the old café bar should look to Kirkwall's currently trading cafés and pubs instead, and confirm times directly with them.

What's proposed: a community learning centre, not yet built

Orkney Islands Council has lodged a planning application to convert the building into a Community Learning and Development Centre, with teaching spaces for cooking and IT skills among the proposed facilities. It is a lodged application, not an approved or completed project, so there is nothing to visit and no schedule for public access.

If the plans matter to you, the place to watch is the council's planning and building service, where applications and decisions are published, plus local reporting in The Orcadian. Check those before assuming the building will be open, changed or demolished on any particular date.

What's nearby within a short walk: drink and food in central Kirkwall

The immediate neighbour is St Magnus Cathedral, the red sandstone landmark that anchors this end of Broad Street, and the town centre streets around it hold most of what a short visit needs. Beyond the cathedral, Kirkwall spreads a little on either side of the harbour, but the historic core is compact enough to cross on foot in well under half an hour.

For a drink with more of a destination to it, Highland Park distillery sits on Holm Road on the edge of town and runs tours that need booking ahead in season. It makes a sensible half-day pairing with a walk through the centre.

Scapa distillery is the other one, on the shore west of town at Scapa Noust, and its tours are similarly best arranged in advance rather than turning up. If beer is more your thing, Orkney Brewery is a drive out on Orkney Mainland rather than a stroll, so factor in transport.

For provisions to take away, Jollys of Orkney covers smoked fish and deli supplies, while the Brig Larder is the place for cheese, charcuterie and picnic bits. Both are central enough to fold into a morning in town.

For a sit-down meal, The Shore is the established option in central Kirkwall, useful when you want a proper main rather than a sandwich. Orkney Cheese Company is the local dairy name to look for on menus and in shops if you want a taste of the island's produce before you leave.

Should you seek out The Reel?

No, not as a place to eat or drink. The Reel is a closed building on Broad Street, and the honest advice is to use it only as a waypoint beside St Magnus Cathedral while you get on with the rest of Kirkwall. Anyone with an interest in Orkney's folk music heritage will find the story worth a minute of their time; anyone hungry should walk on.

Before you travel, confirm the current state of the redevelopment through the council's planning pages rather than trusting older reports, and check opening times and tour bookings directly with whichever distillery, brewery or restaurant you plan to visit. Those details change with the season.