£10m Hawick distillery bid lodged with SBC

A planning application has been lodged for a £10million distillery and visitor centre in Hawick.And the firm behind the multi-million pound proposal, The Three Stills Company Ltd, of Glasgow, says its plans to redevelop the former Turnbull & Scott (Engineers) premises at 16-20 Commercial Road will “provide welcome employment” and “encourage more tourism”.Three Stills anounced in November that it had secured funding for the project, which will be known as The Borders Distillery, and it has now submitted a planning application to Scottish Borders Council (SBC) for the Hawick scheme.The plans state there will be a reception, shop and café on the ground floor alongside two large industrial sheds which will house the distillery equipment, while the first floor will include exhibition and whisky-tasting areas.Three Stills hopes to start work on the development later this year and plans to open for business in July 2017.In its design statement, submitted to SBC earlier this month, the company says its whisky distillery proposal is a rare opportunity to restore and breathe new life into one of Hawick’s former industrial buildings … and that too often no appropriate use can be found for these buildings and gradually they fall into disrepair, resulting ultimately in demolition.