Three Stills’ Scottish Borders plans approved

The Three Stills Company (TTSC) has received approval to build a new distillery in the Scottish Borders – set to be the first in the region for more than 180 years.

TTSC secured £10 million for the project in November last year, which will see the company convert a disused industrial site in Hawick into a Scotch whisky distillery and visitors’ centre.

Founded by former William Grant executives John Fordyce, Tim Carton, Tony Roberts and George Tait, the new distillery is set to be the region’s first since 1837.

According to TTSC’s planning application, the new distillery – which will be built on the former site of Turnbull & Scott Engineers Limited on Commercial Road – will also house offices, a boilerhouse, and a café.

The application stated: “Hawick is an ideal location for The Borders Distillery, which will become the first whisky distillery operating in the Scottish Borders since 1837.

“The characteristics that made Hawick suitable for the woollen industry in the nineteenth century, such as good water supply from the river Teviot, surrounding agricultural land and good transport links are also essential for a distillery.”

The application was just one of a number of Borders distillery plans; Mossburn Distillers recently submitted a planning application to develop a £40 million whisky distillery near Jedburgh, while R&B Distillers is has identified Peebles as a preferred spot for its own opening.