ARRAN Brewery has unveiled plans to open a hotel with bars, restaurants, brewery and visitor centre on the banks of Loch Earn.
Bank of Scotland has agreed to finance 80% of the redevelopment costs for phase one of Arran's plans to revitalise the former Drummond Hotel in St Fillans.
The finance deal comes as Arran bids to raise up to £4 million in a crowd-funding initiative next month, with the proceeds earmarked for a brewery, bottling and visitor centre at the former Rosebank Distillery in Falkirk. It also hopes to expand its Arran brewery.
In St Fillans, Arran is developing a 30-bedroom hotel, alongside two bars, three restaurants, a gift shop and visitor centre in a project reported to be worth £250,000.
Work is scheduled to begin on November 1, with the bars due to open first and the restaurants before Christmas. Local practice WD Harley Architects has been commissioned to lead the project.
Arran has also applied for planning permission to build a brewery next to the hotel under a second phase of development, and hopes work will commence in May.
The project will provide 20 jobs, and attract visitors to Perthshire and the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. It is thought up to 30,000 will visit in its first year of trading.
Arran Brewery boss Gerald Michaluk said: "The St Fillans site offers the brewery the chance to diversify and expand, producing a range of fresh and exciting brews in a new region of Scotland. The new premises will be situated on a stunning site overlooking Loch Earn."
Arran will brew a range of premium lagers at St Fillans, and revealed that the recipes had already been designed.
Mr Michaluk, who described the local water as perfect for making lager, said the facility would also brew Munich's Hofbrau beer under licence.
The two brewers signed a mutual distribution deal last year.
Mr Michaluk said the equipment for the brewery had actually been ordered for Rosebank, where his plans have been held up by a planning wrangle.
He resolved to put the kit into action at St Fillans instead of holding it in storage and ultimately not using it to benefit the business. Mr Michaluk said: "This opportunity [St Fillans] came up and it has coincided with all the equipment arriving.
"The brewery that is actually going to go in... was the brewery that was going to Rosebank.
"We had to order it over a year ago. I did not expect us to not be in Rosebank by now."
Bank of Scotland's involvement with Arran comes after it revealed it had trained a 12-strong team of relationship managers to fine-tune the support it offers small businesses in the tourism sector.
The bank's Amanda Harold: "Our new tourism partnership initiative will help build on the strong support we already provide businesses in the tourism sector such as Arran Brewery, by ensuring we have a clearer understanding of the unique opportunities and challenges facing small tourism providers."
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