DIAGEO has received a major boost in its bid to radically revamp facilities for visitors to its Glenkinchie Distillery.
The Scotch whisky giant has secured planning permission from East Lothian Council to transform the visitor experience at its lowland distillery, based at Tranent around ten miles outside Edinburgh.
The project is part of a broader drive by Diageo to showcase the four distilleries whose malts are used in its flagship Johnnie Walker blend, which also includes plans to upgrade facilities at Caol Ila on Islay, Clynelish in the Highlands, and Cardhu in Speyside.
Diageo is in the midst of investing £185 million to transform its Scotch distilleries and visitor experiences, with the centrepiece a new Johnnie Walker attraction in Edinburgh. It was reported in November that the company had held talks with property developer Parabola over securing the former House of Fraser department store on Princes Street as the location.
The investment drive will also see Diageo bring its “lost” Brora and Port Ellen distilleries out of mothballs.
The plans for Glenkinchie would see its Victorian-era red-brick warehouse buildings turned into a “multi-level cultural and sensory visitor experience”, where the story of distillery and its 125-year association with Johnnie Walker will be told.
A lounge, retail outlet, tasting rooms and a bar and cocktail making classroom will be among the new attractions, while the scale model of the distillery – built originally for the 1925 Empire Exhibition – will be revamped to incorporate digital and interactive elements. Buildings which are not part of the original distillery will be removed to create landscaped gardens in the approach to the visitor centre. Work is due to begin in the new year.
Ramsay Borthwick, distillery manager at Glenkinchie, said the project would boost the wider East Lothian economy.
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