Step forward for Gordon & MacPhail's transformation work and takeaway plans for former Elgin High Street bakery
Sit back and enjoy all of the most interesting planning news of the week.
In this week's edition, work could take place at a Batchen Street shop.
A new pharmacy could be on the way for Elgin town centre.
We look at the latest on the transformation of a former Elgin bakery into a takeaway.
There is also an update on the major makeover taking place at the Gordon & MacPhail building on Elgin's South Street.
But first, we look at the latest regarding plans to breathe new life into a derelict Elgin pub site.
Last month, we revealed how Springfield Properties wanted to build eight new flats on the site of the former Pinegrove Hotel site in Elgin.
The land in the east of the town has been empty for almost six years.
Each apartment will have an open plan kitchen and living area, two large bedrooms and plenty of storage.
Now a neighbour has described the flats proposals as 'excessive'. However, they neither object or support the plans.
They added: 'Also, I am concerned who these flats are to be allocated to.
'I can only hope, if this planning goes ahead, that families or couples are given the opportunity of housing and not young single people.'
In March, Ramsdens opened a new Elgin store at 12 Batchen Street.
The store was previously home to the LCTG hairdressers.
The pawnbroking and jewellery chain opened up the new shop after being made homeless by the closure of the St Giles Shopping Centre.
The firm has had a presence in the town for 10 years.
Now building papers have revealed proposed £30,000 worth of internal alterations to the layout of the shop.
In 2010, Smillie's bakery closed down at 212 Elgin High Street.
The original shop, which faces Elgin High Street, has already been been converted and presently operates as a nail studio.
Meanwhile, the back premises have been under-utilised for storage.
It was used for deliveries of raw materials and packaging until the bakery shut down.
Three years ago, Jennifer and Neil Taylor of Sanus Moor Limited had their plans to transform the storage section into a takeaway refused.
Planning chiefs argued the proposal failed to comply with the local plan requirements.
The Taylors appealed the decision.
However, councillors voted 4-3 on the Moray Local Body Review to uphold the decision.
Last year, plans for the takeaway were approved after they were resubmitted .
Now a building warrant has been approved for the £30,000 worth of work which will include upgrading floors, walls and ceilings.
It is a shell warrant which focuses on the framework of a building before the interior fit-out.
Architectural And Planning's Martin Archibald represented the pair.
A new pharmacy could open in the Elgin town centre.
NHS Grampian has been consulting with Elgin Pharmacy, which is the proposed name of the business, who have applied to open a new pharmacy on the High Street.
The proposed opening hours are Monday to Friday from 8.45am to 5:45pm.
Meanwhile, on Saturdays from 9am to 5pm.
Elgin Pharmacy has defined the community area they would serve as being within the town of Elgin in its entirety.
If the application is approved, the proposed NHS services include unscheduled care, clinical space rental, Naloxone training and supply and much more.
The local health board will assess if the residents feel a new pharmacy is necessary or desirable.
The consultation is currently being run until Wednesday, September 17.
In December 2022, we exclusively revealed Gordon & MacPhail wanted to carry out a multimillion-pound makeover of their South Street shop.
It will incorporate displays, tasting rooms and a liquid library of some of the world's rarest whiskies.
Around three years on, scaffolding is still up on the iconic building.
Now the whisky giants have been given permission to replace the sash and case timber windows as well as gutters and downpipes.
In the meantime, the firm have a new retail shop and whisky tasting rooms at The Courtyard on Newmill Road at the site of Johnstons of Elgin.
Retail manager Fraser Robson previously revealed to councillors on the licensing board that the firm needs the premises for at least 18 months and maybe up to two years.
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Times
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- Times
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Polling by the think tank More In Common found that while overall life satisfaction was highest among those earning more than £100,000 a year — on average they gave their satisfaction 9.1 out of 10 — only 46 per cent said they felt 'very comfortable' financially. Another 46 per cent described themselves as 'relatively comfortable', while 7 per cent said they could cover essentials but had no room for luxuries. Adrian Anderson from the mortgage broker Anderson Harris said: 'The general feeling I get now from clients earning £125,140 a year is that they feel worse off in real terms than they were in 2015. People face higher taxes, higher interest rates and higher basic living expenses, so they have less disposable income.' He said that even very wealthy clients were now thinking twice about stretching their borrowing when it came to housing costs. 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Times
08-08-2025
- Times
Labour should atone for its gambling sins
It was an indelible stain on New Labour: the beaming culture minister Tessa Jowell placing chips on a roulette table as she announced that the government's solution to urban decay was 40 supercasinos, one in each of our most blighted cities. Liberalising gambling wouldn't just bring investment, jobs and tax revenue, it was fun! Modern, grown-up, free market, vice-is-nice fun — along with newly licensed 24-hour pubs and sexy high-street lap dancing clubs. Those concerned about organised crime, gambling addiction, families in debt or the sheer immorality of rapacious US casino cartels extracting hard-earned wages from the poor of Leeds or Great Yarmouth were, according to the late Jowell, anti-American 'snobs', queasy about Vegas gaudiness, po-faced Puritans. A supercasino, she argued, was no worse for a neighbourhood than a multiplex or a bowling alley. How the roulette wheel spins. Listening to Gordon Brown explain his call to increase taxes on gambling to raise the £3.2 billion required to abolish the two-child benefit cap felt like an atonement, or maybe historical revenge. He wants the filthiest money in all capitalism to be repurposed for the purest ends: removing children from poverty. • Rachel Reeves may raise gambling tax to axe two-child benefit cap The Blairites didn't consult Brown, then chancellor, on their supercasino wheeze, knowing this austere son of the manse would be appalled. Indeed, he sided with the churches and the anti-addiction lobby that fought the number down from 40 to eight and finally just one, mooted for Manchester. Then as soon as Brown became PM, he killed off even that and demoted Jowell. Even so, the 2005 Gambling Act's liberalising force brought £100-a-pop slot machines to every bookies shop, incessant TV betting ads and soaring rates of problem gambling. 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Telegraph
07-08-2025
- Telegraph
Harrods axes Gordon Ramsay and Tom Kerridge restaurants
Harrods is to end its restaurant partnerships with high-profile chefs Tom Kerridge, Calum Franklin, Gordon Ramsay and Masayoshi Takayama as it shifts away from fine dining. The luxury department store announced Sushi by Masa, Kerridge's Fish and Chips and Calum Franklin's The Georgian restaurants are all due to close by the end of August. Gordon Ramsay Burger, where diners can tuck into an £85 waygu beefburger, will remain open longer and close on Jan 11. Harrods said the changes followed a strategic review of customer preferences and current industry trends, including a rise in people dining earlier in the evening. The 'six is the new eight' trend has been driven by healthier eating habits, as restaurants capitalise on post-work dining by introducing special menus for earlier diners. Data from OpenTable shows that 6pm reservations are up 11 per cent in London and 6 per cent across Britain. The luxury store announced it is planning to invest its own food and beverage concepts with new openings set to launch in the upcoming months. However, it will remain home to several restaurants run in partnership with outside chefs and brands, including Pasta Evangelists and Kinoya Ramen Bar, which was created in Dubai by chef Neha Mishra. The Georgian will continue to serve its afternoon tea and terrace menus after Franklin's departure. Michael Ward, the managing director of Harrods, said: 'As part of Harrods' considered customer approach, we took the decision a number of months ago to review feedback and data to ensure our in-store experience is delivering against customers' evolving preferences. 'Harrods has a rich history of serving the finest food and drink and we are constantly progressing our dining offerings. 'We'd like to thank all the fantastic chefs that we have been very privileged to work with over the last few years for their partnership. 'Together we have served many thousands of diners from shoppers to families and friends celebrating special moments in our restaurants.' Harrods became a restaurant space during the time Ashley Saxton was director of restaurants and kitchens. In 2019, Mr Saxton said about Harrods' shift to restaurants: 'Bags, scarves and accessories used to be the gateway to luxury, but now it's restaurants.' In 2023, the Knightsbridge institution said that its restaurant trade had increased by 44 per cent in four years. Announcing his departure two months ago, Mr Saxton said: 'Together we have taken Harrods from an unknown restaurant entity to the biggest single-site food and beverage operation in Europe'. The store has ended partnerships with high-profile chefs this year. Jason Atherton's Hot Dogs by Three Darlings pop-up finished its run after eight months this spring and Swedish chef restaurant Bjorn Frantzen's Studio Frantzen shut its doors in January after around three years of trading.
