Stobo Castle staff told there will be no redundancies before October 31

However, Stephen Winyard, chairman at Stobo, urged first minister Nicola Sturgeon to halve the current social distancing distance from 2m to 1m to allow for the reopening of the industry to be financialy viable.

Mr Winyard said: “We were all hugely saddened to hear the devastating news of 1,800 redundancies at Macdonald Hotels and a further 241 within the Crieff Hydro Group that will respectively lead to significant job losses at the nearby Cardrona Macdonald Hotel and Peebles Hydro.

“To address any understandable concerns, we have given a categorical assurance to our 200-strong workforce that no redundancies will take place before the end of the furlough scheme on October 31.

“We have secured funding through the Government’s coronavirus business interruption loan scheme to finance the incremental contribution that all employers are required to make from August 1 to the cost of the job retention scheme, however, the hospitality industry will undoubtedly require further state support to ensure its survival through the long winter months.

“In their update on June 18, I am calling for the Scottish Government to halve social distancing from July 1.

“This will allow the hospitality industry to prepare for re-opening on July 15 at a capacity that is financially viable.

“This, of course, is subject to the R rate continuing to fall and there is no indication of a second wave of the virus.

“The job retention scheme was created to enable businesses to preserve their loyal and dedicated workforces for when they re-open and that is exactly what we plan to do.

“The welfare of the Stobo team is our top priority and we do hope that other businesses in the hospitality sector will follow suit, thereby sustaining the tourism industry that is so vital to the economy of the Scottish Borders.”

But at todays first minister qquestions, Mrs Sturgeon said the two-metre rule still stands and did not put a date on when that figure would be changed.

However she added that the government has commissioned further advice to look at whether it can be reduced to 1-1.5m “in the future”.

The July 15 date for the re-opening of the hospitality sector in Scotland was “pencilled in” by rural economy and tourism secretary Fergus Ewing yesterday, Wednesday, as a likely date for tourism businesses to resume trading, but this will be highly dependent on the country’s “R” number – based on the number of people that one infected person will pass the virus on to on average.