First Scottish eco pub unveiled

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"This place will do a ton," says the taxi driver as he takes me the short distance from Croy railway station to an idyllic stretch of the Forth and...

"This place will do a ton," says the taxi driver as he takes me the short distance from Croy railway station to an idyllic stretch of the Forth and Clyde Canal where there were previously only open fields and forestry tracks.

Auchenstarry Marina, set to become an increasingly lively yachting haven, now plays host to the Boathouse, a hotel pub-restaurant expected to bring hundreds of people from surrounding conurbations on a daily basis.

"I'm not kidding," the driver continues. "There's nothing like it anywhere in the area and people are going to flock here in droves."

Ken McGown, Scottish operations and sales director of Scottish and Newcastle Pub Enterprises (S&NPE), agrees.

He has watched a partnership between British Waterways, S&NPE and local couple Malcolm and Josie Binnie painstakingly create a major pub-restaurant venture on this stretch of green belt near Kilsyth. Malcolm is managing director of Townhouse Restaurants.

Hard slog

The planning obstacles were formidable and it has taken 18 months hard slog, and an outlay of around £2m, to bring the project - the latest in an expanding UK-wide series of such ventures -- to fruition.

Ken proudly flags it up as an example of what the best of licensed hospitality is all about, and claims a couple of firsts for the project.

Billed as Scotland's first eco-pub, the Boathouse is the partnership's largest to gain 'waterside' accreditation and its first greenfield new-build venture.

The timber widely used in the construction is all sustainable. In addition, there's a geothermal heating system which uses the residual heat in the canal to generate hot water and heating, while waste is treated naturally through a reed bed.

There's also energy-efficient lighting, low-energy refrigeration and cellar cooling - said to add up to a 25 per cent energy saving over that used in other pubs of similar scale.

This, we're assured, all helped to win brownie points towards full planning consent, but the ecological angle also mattered in other ways.

"Most people who come here for a day out won't be overly concerned with these measures," says Ken.

"But they're important nevertheless because they underpin an attitude to quality in every aspect of the place - marking it apart from chain ventures. It's a one-off, designed to be above-average in every respect."

Josie Binnie sees quality staff as the ultimate key to success, and given the numbers - 45 on duty at any given time - recruitment and training is likely to prove an ongoing process.

Another plus, she says, is that the employees will nearly all be local.

All three are convinced that this eco-marvel is going to be every bit as successful as the Wheelhouse, Malcolm's established venture on another stretch of the canal at Camelon outside Falkirk.

More eco-canal pubs with plenty of in-built 'green' credentials seem certain to follow. "I can see eventually acquiring five or six further developments of this kind," he says.

"It wouldn't even have to be in the countryside - a venue such as this in the heart of Glasgow, on the banks of the Clyde, could be fantastic." The facts

The Boathouse