New brewery planned for Inverness as Black Isle Brewery lodges plans for significant expansion in Highland capital
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A NEW brewery, visitor centre, bar and restaurant could be built in Inverness as the Black Isle Brewery seeks to significantly increase its presence in the city.
The brewery, which is based at Allangrange on the Black Isle but also has a bar and separate hostel in Inverness city centre, has lodged a screening application for a sizeable new brewery building on a five-acre site out at the Eastfield Way retail park.
In its application to Highland Council, the brewery is looking to build a new brewery on a brownfield site immediately to the west of the road at the rear of Sports Direct, Everlast Gym, Pizza Hut, Burger King and the Vue cinema.
Although the screening application is not a full application at this stage, it does include a number of details about the Black Isle Brewery's ambitions for the site.
Drawings show two buildings in the plan, the larger of which would be 'H'-shaped and house a taphouse, production building, brewhouse, shop/office and storage. There would also be an external courtyard out the front, with a large service yard to the rear and west of the building.
Also to the west of the main building would be a separate storage building.
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The public-facing front of the site, which would be accessed via Highlander Way, has indicative car parking for 27 regular vehicles, three additional spots for electric vehicles, two disabled bays and a bike shed. Sizeable open space to the west of the parking area and south-west of the storage building would also presumably leave scope to expand the site further in future.
A further non-public service access to the site's rear would also be created, with vehicles accessing this via a new exit/entry point from the roundabout that sits next to the retail park's Tesco petrol station.
It is not known what this proposed development might mean for the future of the brewery's existing brew site at Allangrange near Munlochy.
