Gin HQ on colourful South Queensferry street told to go grey

A gin company has been ordered to paint its bright headquarters grey even though it is on one of Edinburgh's most colourful streets.

Boe Gin director Andrew Richardson said he was shocked and upset to receive an enforcement notice for his South Queensferry premises.

The action was taken following an anonymous complaint.

City of Edinburgh Council said it was an offence to paint a listed building in a conservation area without consent.

Mr Richardson changed the colour of House of Boe, on South Queensferry High Street, from grey to white and purple in July.

It was the last part of a £200,000 refurbishment of a derelict bank building.

But Mr Richardson told BBC Scotland he was "genuinely surprised and confused" after the council informed him it would now need a different coat of paint.

He said: "I honestly can't understand what we've done wrong.

"I genuinely thought we were enhancing and fitting in with the High Street because it is a colourful place.

"When we got the lease for this building in March 2020 it was so derelict the ceiling was down, the floors were up and the toilets smashed."

The first Mr Richardson knew of there being any problem was when he received an anonymous letter asking him if he had planning permission from someone in the neighbourhood.

Then he received a letter from City of Edinburgh Council asking him if he was aware he had made a mistake with the colour of his new premises.

Mr Richardson, 59, said: "I simply couldn't understand it as the pub across the road is red, white and black and the two council buildings in the street are white.

"There are also houses and shops in the street that are a variety of colours."

Mr Richardson, who is one of three directors in the company, said he then looked up the council's own rules on the matter.

He said: "They are extremely vague and very subjective, I thought."

The new headquarters have offices and a shop selling gin and merchandise.

Mr Richardson said he was now "frustrated and annoyed".

He added: "We have spent a lot of money lifting this building out of a terrible state so that it now enhances the High Street.

"It is unnecessary and bureaucratic of the council to go down this route. If they looked at it with a bit of common sense they would see this is nonsense.

"I feel aggrieved and that the council has got this wrong."

A City of Edinburgh Council spokeswoman said: "It is an offence to paint a listed building in a conservation area without the appropriate consent.

"In this instance we have taken action because of the harm to the building and the conservation area.

"While the owner may disagree with this decision, the appropriate route to challenge the decision is to appeal the notice to Scottish ministers."

South Queensferry lies 10 miles to the north-west of Edinburgh city centre, on the shore of the Firth of Forth.

Last week Miranda Dickson, 48, told BBC Scotland how she too was ordered to repaint her pink door in Edinburgh's New Town, which is a conservation area.