London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 28, 2026

Trump Scottish golf resorts claimed over £3m in furlough

Trump Scottish golf resorts claimed over £3m in furlough

Donald Trump's golf courses and leisure businesses in Scotland claimed over £3m in UK government furlough money, newly-published accounts show.

Covid restrictions caused substantial losses at Trump resorts in Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire with both companies reducing staff.

Trump Turnberry saw turnover more than halved and it recorded a loss of more than £3m in 2020.

The other course and resort at Balmedie also reported a loss, of £1.3m.

Donald Trump's mother came from the Isle of Lewis, and the former US president is said to have spoken fondly of his Scottish ancestry.

He opened his first golf resort on the Menie estate in Aberdeenshire in 2012, amid opposition over potential environmental damage, and later tried to stop a wind farm being built off the coast, arguing it would spoil the view.

In 2014 he bought the Turnberry golf resort in South Ayrshire from a Dubai-based company.

He handed control of both courses to his sons Donald Junior and Eric shortly before he became president in 2017, but he retained a financial interest.

Critics of Mr Trump recently lost a legal bid to force the Scottish government to investigate how he paid for the courses, using an unexplained wealth order.

Donald Trump has been a regular visitor to his golf resorts in Scotland


According to accounts filed with Companies House, Golf Recreation Scotland Ltd, which owns the Turnberry golf course and resort, saw turnover fall from £19.7m in 2019 to £6.7m in 2020.

It made a profit of £321,000 in 2019, and a loss of £3.4m in 2020.

The resort was closed from 23 March to 15 July 2020, and again from 20 November to 26 April 2021.

The company received a total of £2.3m in grants under the furlough scheme in 2020, the accounts say, while the average number of employees fell from 541 to 289.

A subsidiary of the company, SLC Turnberry Ltd, made further furlough claims of between £435,000 and £1.1m from January to August 2021, according to government data not included in the published accounts.

"Government support was helpful to retain as many jobs as possible, however, uncertainty of the duration of support and the pandemic's sustained impact meant that redundancies were required to prepare the business for the long term effects to the hospitality industry," say the accounts, signed by Eric Trump.

Donald Trump, pictured with his son Donald Jnr, teed off the first ball from he Aberdeenshire course in 2012


Trump International Golf Club Scotland Limited, which owns Donald Trump's golf course in Aberdeenshire, also saw a steep drop in turnover, from £3.3m in 2019 to £1.1m in 2020, although the company's losses rose only slightly, from £1.1m to £1.3m.

The accounts note that while golf was permitted for much of the year, the Macleod House hotel was closed from 21 March onwards, and the restaurants and dining facilities only opened in June and closed again on 20 November.

"The UK government furlough scheme was helpful to retain as many jobs as possible, and the majority of employees were reinstated over the course of the year," the accounts say.

The company received £452,000 in from the furlough scheme in 2020, according to the accounts.

Separately, government data shows that Trump International Golf Club Scotland Limited claimed between £85,000 and £205,000 of furlough money from January to August 2021.

The average number of employees fell from 84 in 2019 to 63 in 2020, the accounts show.

The ultimate controlling parties of both companies are the trustees of the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust, registered in Florida, the accounts say.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Millions of UK Benefit Recipients Receive Payments Early Ahead of August Bank Holiday
UK Prime Minister Meets Northern Ireland Leaders in Belfast Over Budget Crisis
Crypto Tax Gains Reach One Point Three Eight Billion Pounds Among UK Investors, HMRC Data Shows
UK Corporate Confidence Rises to Highest Level Since March, Lloyds Survey Shows
Mike Ashley Attacks UK Government Business Rates and Cost-of-Living Policies
Scottish Universities Face Two Hundred Million Pound Annual Funding Gap, Report Warns
Entertainment Figures Urge UK Government to Protect People From AI Voice Cloning
Manchester Airports Group Confirms Customer Data Breached in Cyberattack
Seven Charged Over Vandalism at Donald Trump’s Turnberry Golf Resort in Scotland
Nearly 23,000 UK Households Expected to Move Home on Busiest Day of 2026
UK Benefit Payments to Arrive Early Ahead of August Bank Holiday
Reform UK Pledges to Replace GDPR and Cut Tax Administration Red Tape
Andy Burnham Launches Work Experience Plan for One Million Young People Outside Education or Work
Andy Burnham Faces Labour Backlash After Dropping Support for Political Donations Cap
Andy Burnham Announces UK-Wide Summit With Leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
Met Office Warns of Heavy Rain and Flood Risk Across England and Wales After Summer Heat
Bank of England Warns AI Adoption Could Reduce Demand for Automatable Jobs
UK Confirms National Salmonella Outbreak With More Than 200 Cases
UK Airports Handle Record 81 Million Passengers Despite Middle East Disruption
Ofgem Raises UK Energy Price Cap by Four Percent to £1,723
Cyber Attack Hits Customer Data Systems at Manchester, Stansted and East Midlands Airports
TSA Unveils Major Airport-Security Overhaul as It Drops Gold+ Privatization Plan
CIA Chief Warned Russia Against Attacking NATO in Secret Moscow Mission
Raheem Sterling Charged With Dangerous Driving After Lamborghini Crash
The Secret Dolly Parton Kept Until Her Death: "She Was Much Sicker Than She Let On"
Middlesbrough House Fire Kills Woman and Seven-Year-Old Girl
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Return to UK Amid Renewed Media Attention
Raheem Sterling Charged With Dangerous Driving After London Collision
Greenpeace Threatens Legal Action Over Crown Estate Offshore Wind Leasing
Nvidia Revenue Surges to Ninety-Six Point Two Billion Dollars on Artificial Intelligence Demand
Meta Agrees to Global Youth Safety Changes Following Multi-State Legal Settlement
UK Government Plans Autumn Summit With Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Leaders
CMA Caps Veterinary Prescription Fees at Twenty-One Pounds
Thames Water Pilot Records Forever Chemicals at Thirteen Times the Legal Limit
Kent Meningitis Outbreak Reaches Thirty-Four Confirmed Cases
Forty Children Missing From UK Asylum Accommodation Remain Unaccounted For
UK Court Upholds VAT on Private School Fees
US Designates Palestine Action as Foreign Terrorist Organization
UK Approves Massive New Chinese Embassy Complex in London Amid Security Concerns
Prime Minister Andy Burnham Visits Kyiv and Offers Cruise Missile Designs to Ukraine
Glacier Collapse, Not Earthquake, Triggered Deadly Nepal-Tibet Flood
Andy Burnham Drops Plan to Cap Political Donations
Conservative Leadership Contest Intensifies as Robert Jenrick Attacks Kemi Badenoch
French-Born Defence Secretary Wes Streeting Condemns Homophobic Abuse Since Taking Office
UK Government Delays Commercial Robotaxi Rollout in London Over Regulatory Gaps
NHS Complaints About Autism and ADHD Care Waiting Times Triple Over Five Years
UK Government Launches 10,000 Work Placements for Young People With Sainsbury's
NHS England to Offer Free At-Home Cervical Cancer Screening Kits
EU Biometric Border Checks Cause Delays of Up to Five Hours for British Travellers
US Imposes Economic Sanctions on UK-Based Protest Group Palestine Action
×