Scotland's first vinyl pressing plant is set to open later this year.

Builders have started construction on the brand-new, independent, family-owned plant at Macmerry Industrial Estate in Tranent, East Lothian.

The state-of-the-art vinyl manufacturing plant is due to open in October, with vinyl presses to be commissioned from November. 

Seabass Vinyl is the brainchild of David and Dominique Harvey, who moved to Scotland in 2019 after meeting in Dublin around two decades ago.

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In an interview with God is in the TV Zine, they said they were motivated to take on the ambitious project after seeing one of their musician friends “getting shafted with split releases and delays to vinyl delivery”.

However, the “real trigger” was witnessing the response within the music industry to the news the UK government were giving a £2 million grant to Liverpool to set up a museum for The Beatles.

About the plant, they said: “We are effectively doing two things, we’re building a vinyl pressing plant and building a commercial property. Either one of those would be quite chunky on their own terms. 

“It’ll definitely be worth it to have our own premises in the end because we’ll have control over the whole situation, including where we are putting equipment. 

“Hopefully we get the planning permission for the turbines and that will probably make us one of the greenest plants in the world.”

The pair confirmed their initial desire to focus locally and work with Scottish artists, citing the financial constraints that come with working with musicians from Europe and the US. 

They are targeting a production run of between 50,000 to 60,000 records a month when “fully up to speed”.