Owner of party-mad rental ‘Castle McGlasto’ loses fight to let it out after 28 calls to police

The owner of a Scottish castle that has become infamous for its rowdy parties has lost his fight to continue renting it out.

Invergare Castle, near Helensburgh, Scotland was nicknamed “Castle McGlasto” after the UK’s biggest music festival after local police received 28 calls about disruptive parties there.

Some guests were said to have climbed the castle’s turrets, sung loudly and thrown bottles of Buckfast in a string of antisocial incidents reported by locals.

Nearly 30 complaints to police have resulted in a ban on short-term rentals there by Argyll and Bute council - it had formerly been available to rent out on platforms such as Airbnb, Trivago, HomeAway and Booking.com.

The council’s decision was recently challenged by the owner, in an appeal which has been overturned by the Scottish government.

The owner, Graham Gardner, called the ban “excessive”, insisting that his house rules state that guests should not have parties.

“Guests are warned to respect our neighbours and keep noise down,” said Gardner in a statement about the appeal.

“We are aware that the council have noise-monitoring equipment in our neighbour’s property and this has not registered any noise from our property. We will continue to monitor our guests’ activities and maintain a peaceful environment for everyone.”

At one meeting last year about the property, local police inspector Roddy MacNeill told the council: “In total there have been 28 incident reports recorded, so it is regular, but some of them will be multiple calls.”

The council claim Gardner has breached planning rules by letting the property out for short breaks, and ordered an end to rentals.

Gardner, a dentist, snapped up the 1850s castle for just £170,000 and spent £800,000 restoring and refurbishing it before renting it out.

The Scots-Baronial-style manor house, which sleeps 16, is in the conservation village of Rhu, facing the Clyde Estuary.

A spokesperson for the community council said: “Rhu is a conservation village. People choose to live here because it is quiet and peaceful.

“The use of Invergare for Airbnb holidays/short term commercial lets/residential lets - whatever the owners wish to call them - has shattered that. On the now-removed Airbnb listing for the castle, the property was described as “perfect for a luxurious stay while you visit the vast and varied delights of the local area, play some golf, explore Loch Lomond or make a day trip to the Highlands and beyond”.

House rules include “No loud music after 10pm” and “No external/third party speaker systems” with the clarification that “guests may use the Sonos speaker system provided only”.

An Airbnb spokesperson said that it had not received any complaints from neighbours or police about guests who booked through its platform.

This article was amended on 23 February 2022 to include Airbnb’s position that the property was also available on other rental platforms and that it was not aware of complaints relating to its bookings of the property.