Clydesdale Bank

Three objections to a change of use application appears to have scuppered the premises from becoming a Bistro. The word is that the issues are; parking, litter and noise?
The site is an apex in a triangle of unoccupied sites. All those cries to improve the amenity and image of Penicuik Town centre dashed, yet as soon as a reasonable proposition arises it is blown out of the water.

The laugh is that the planners considered that a business opening up in a row of empty shops would 'detract from the existing character and amenity of the area'! I take it there was no site visit.

Odd that the objections should be for perceived nuisance that any business might incur - even the Clydesdale Bank when it was there. Nimby-ism!

That'll please the local eco-loons. They probably fancy a crafte shoppe on that corner. Bistro? How disgustingly un-green!

Ah but... ... Councillors are to reconsider and 'The local review body' is to make a site visit to the wasteland!

Hopefully these plans will get the go-ahead and this run-down building can be brought back to life. Other businesses may then be encouraged to follow and move into neighbouring properties.

If problems with litter, parking and noise do occur they can be dealt with in the appropriate way. Imagined problems are just that, figments of imagination.

Very nicely put, Lothian Lass.
Apart from the petition to keep the Clydesdale Bank open (hawked around the shops the week after it had closed — there's forward thinking for you!) every attempt to get something into that building has been objected to. If there is one building in the centre of Penicuik that should not be left derelict it's that one. Right on the corner; visible from every direction and allowed to lie empty because proposals are "unsuited" or "not in keeping".
Get that occupied and, yes, you might just get someone to move in to the others on the High Street. Leave it empty and no-one will want to know.
If you want takers for the others, of course, you'll need to persuade the local brethren to have a word in the collective ear of the co-operative movement which owns most of it. The rents they are asking would make your eyes water.

If the co-op lot own that whole block on the High Street then surely the cooncil can put some pressure on them to do something with the buildings. It shows how bad the rents must be when a business owned by the same group (ie. Semi Chem) move from the High Street to the precinct!

Not too sure about the Clydesdale Bank plans - do we really need another restaurant / Bistro? Why has nobody taken over the L'Amitie place since they would not have to bother with planning consent?

pitsgate wrote:

you'll need to persuade the local brethren to have a word in the collective ear of the co-operative movement which owns most of it. The rents they are asking would make your eyes water.

I'm fairly sure you've got that bit wrong. The Co-op used to own the whole of that side of the High St, but not now. I'm not sure about The Railway (but I'd expect it to be now owned by a brewery). On the other side of Lamb's Pend, pretty well everything - the flower shop, Best Seller, Allan McDougal's, the tanning studio etc - has for years been owned by a succession of companies and administered by some Glasgow outfit called G2 Properties. The actual rents, to tell the truth, are reasonable, but the factor's "management charges" are a bloody killer!

I don't know for certain who owns the Clydesdale Bank building, but I'd be surprised if it wasn't the Clydesdale Bank itself.

Happy to bow to your superior knowledge, rubbereye.
Certainly Bryan Sibson's old place was owned by the Co-op (whether it was still owned by Scotmid or they had passed it on to the national set-up) when Bryan moved out. It was the last rent increase that did for him. The 99p shop was also in the same ownership. G2 are certainly the managing agents but that's no indication as to who the owner is.
In any case if you want Penicuik High Street to thrive somebody with a lot of vision and probably more money than sense is going to have whip out his cheque book.
If I win the Euromillions next week I'll come back and chip in!

Correct me if I am wrong, rubbereye, was there not plans to turn the Clydesdale bank into a bookmakers.

Yes, a couple of years back, there were plans for a bookies. (Pitsgate will know more.)

Since then, all the planning applications have been for various types of "eatery".

omala wrote:

Correct me if I am wrong, rubbereye, was there not plans to turn the Clydesdale bank into a bookmakers.

I remember that application - just what we needed as three bookies are just not enough! They obviously did not learn from the fate of the other one which opened where Le Tout P'Ti is now which quickly went bust.

Must confess I missed that one. Must have been snoozing at the time!!
Personally I was never fussy what went into that building as long as something did, for the reasons I gave above. I think I can say safely now that the point was made formally and informally in what I hoped were the right places that development in that building would be key to the long-term health of the High Street. Whether or to what extent it was the state of the bank that caused the demise of other businesses along that parade is impossible to tell; it certainly cannot have helped the situation.
We pay far too much attention (imho) to special pleading when it comes to town centre development. As long as what's planned is not totally inappropriate for the site we shouldn't try to second-guess the applicants. And we should be encouraging anything that will keep and/or bring traffic into our small and medium-sized towns. They've got enough to cope with without being expected to do it with one hand tied behind their back. (Sorry about the mixed metaphor )

Excuse my lack of knowledge on the subject, I understand that Penicuik, then a small hamlet had a Bank, before many other settlements, where was the original first bank sited and which Bank occupied it?

The appeal for the Clydesdale Bank site has now been rejected though the guy is still using his old tale about the premises being empty for "at least 7 years". Time someone pointed out that 2011 - 2006 does not equal 7! Look at the closing down sign in the window for proof!

Full story in the Advertiser which has an excellent photo showing what a mess the place is - here:

http://www.midlothianadvertiser.co.uk/community/local-businesses/plan_vetoed_1_837581

I wish they would make the owners pay full rates on empty premises then we might see something done to get them occupied instead of leaving them to fall apart.

Talking about the state of building being left to rot, have you seen the old pub in Bilston
that was bought by the next door neighbour. Every time I pass it there seems to be some
other part of the building that has been removed. I presume the idea is to let the weather
gradually demolish it

They must have heard you Andy since I see they have now started to take the roof off. Not sure if they have permission to build the "60 flats" on the site yet but no doubt something will happen eventually. Certainly lots of activity in Bilston today!

That'll be because of the fire at the eco-camp in the woods:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-12323095

This would improve the look of the empty shops here in Penicuik (and elsewhere)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-12398371

Seems to be a lot of work ongoing in the Clydesdale bank premises. Let us hope they do something about the outside while they are at it!

Managed to find out more about the Clydesdale Bank today. After being knocked back for changing it to a restaurant / bistro the owners have decided to do the place up to make it more attractive by gutting the place, removing the old counters and decorating it inside and out. Hopefully that will do the trick and it will get back in to use - such a highly visible site should not be lying empty!

aye a bank could be usefull

The old banks looking a bit better, pity about the fly posters inside! Still makes it look derelict.
A bit of window dressing wouldn't go amiss.
I think the rental of £15/20,000 a year plus your business rates which doubles it, are what putting people off.
You'd need a lot of customers just to stand still at those prices!!

I've been saying that for 20 years!
At one time I even asked Graham Young to see if there was any way of comparing the rent/rates in Penicuik with similar towns in the Lothians (Bathgate, Broxburn, Tranent, Haddington if I remember correctly). The exercise was just too complex because of so many factors affecting both figures.
But I don't think the overheads in Penicuik are any more severe than in similar towns. The problems appear to be structural and to do with historical resistance to commercial development by the old town council and over-rapid housing development in the 60s/70s as well as loss of local industry. The combination meant excessive reliance on Edinburgh for employment and with the residential development attracting commuters and young families (when we moved into Cornbank in 1972 we had three children under eight) and the lack of appropriate local facilities the writing was in the wall.
The retail parks should have exerted downward pressure on the overheads in local towns but it appears that hasn't happened. Dalkeith has been partially successful in re-inventing itself, largely because it is the local "seat of government". Penicuik has nothing going for it in hard economic terms.
I still claim that for a town with a population of 18,000 to be so bereft of activity is amazing. For every thriving activity you can point me to I can point to two or three that are dying on their feet and many of them because people who "ought" to be active members or participants are indeed very actively participating — they just choose to do so outwith Penicuik.
I have my own ideas why that is so but I'd better keep them to myself.

People working in the Clydesdale Bank at the moment. They seem to be stripping the walls back to the brick so who knows what is happening there and will it be completed as they have started work before. All seems rather odd to rent or buy a place then not get it operating ASAP to bring in some money!

According to one of the workmen, it's being taken over by some insulation/ green energy type business.