Who is chef Scott Smith from Norn?

Scott Smith announced last week he had left Norn after two years as chef patron and is opening a new restaurant Fhior on Broughton Street in Edinburgh.

It has now been announced that Norn will close indefinitely and in a statement Scott, who has previously worked for Geoff Smeddle at The Peat Inn, and his wife Laura said: "We have found out that our ex-business partner has chosen to close Norn indefinitely, we are gutted! We handed him a strong, ready-made restaurant, with a reputation and a diary full of bookings. This is after he indicated he was looking forward to running the day to day."

They added: "We are gutted for everyone who had a booking for this week and, as we understand, received no notification that their reservation would not be honoured, we find this unacceptable. We hope to get this message out to as many people as possible, so they can make alternative arrangements for the bookings they had with Norn."

Last week they spoke about plans for the new venture which they say will open in two to three weeks.

They said: "We write to tell you that, with great regret, we have had to walk away from Norn. This was a terribly difficult and heart-breaking decision to make after all the work we put into creating what we achieved – which we are incredibly proud of.

However, we’re hugely fortunate and excited to announce that we are developing an amazing new restaurant on Broughton Street, of which we will have full control of.

The new restaurant will be named ‘Fhior’ (meaning true/honest) and will have great sourcing of produce at the heart of everything it does and a very excited hybrid of uses for the concept."

Scott grew up with a passion for food and like most chefs started his career working as a pot wash for a local restaurant. It wasn’t long before he nabbed his first commis job at a small Sicilian restaurant working his way up to become sous chef. He later moved to the one Michelin-starred, The Peat Inn working under Geoffrey Smeddle before opening a new restaurant with award winning chef, Steve Collinson and then managing seven restaurants and bars working as a Food Development Manager. It was after leaving his development job that Scott opened Norn.

In these challenging times…

The Staff Canteen team are taking a different approach to keeping our website independent and delivering content free from commercial influence. Our Editorial team have a critical role to play in informing and supporting our audience in a balanced way. We would never put up a paywall – The Staff Canteen is open to all and we want to keep bringing you the content you want; more from younger chefs, more on mental health, more tips and industry knowledge, more recipes and more videos. We need your support right now, more than ever, to keep The Staff Canteen active. Without your financial contributions this would not be possible.

Over the last 16 years, The Staff Canteen has built what has become the go-to platform for chefs and hospitality professionals. As members and visitors, your daily support has made The Staff Canteen what it is today. Our features and videos from the world’s biggest name chefs are something we are proud of. We have over 560,000 followers across Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube and other social channels, each connecting with chefs across the world. Our editorial and social media team are creating and delivering engaging content every day, to support you and the whole sector - we want to do more for you.

A single coffee is more than £2, a beer is £4.50 and a large glass of wine can be £6 or more.

Support The Staff Canteen from as little as £1 today. Thank you.