Clynelish distillery to close visitor centre four years after multimillion pound revamp - with 'undisclosed' job losses
A Scottish drinks giant is set to close a Highland distillery visitor centre just four years after a multimillion pound renovation.
Diageo is preparing to close the visitor centre at Clynelish distillery in Brora in the north Highlands. The distillery, which will continue production, is one of the four corners of Johnie Walker and the visitor centre recently underwent a multimillion pound renovation.
The site’s renovation was part of Diageo’s wider £185M investment into tourism in Scotland which, the team said at the time “will see it transform its Scotch whisky experience and advance its sustainability initiative across its network of visitor centres.”
The new visitor centre opened in April 2021, a month before Brora distillery was reopened after a three year renovation, and speaking at this time, Barbara Smith, managing director of Scotland Brand Homes for Diageo, said: “We are delighted to be able to open the doors to Clynelish and celebrate the welcomed return of visitor attractions and domestic travel. Sustainability from grain-to-glass is at the heart of our ambition for the future. Through our tourism investment in Scotland, we are focused on creating destinations that will be sustainable in the long term.”
The closure of the Clynelish visitor centre will mean the loss of an ‘undisclosed’ number of jobs and it comes at a time when the Scotch whisky industry is facing a big downturn due to economic pressures such as inflation, US tariffs and increased rates. Within the last year around 1,000 jobs have been lost within the whisky industry with many distilleries reducing production from seven days a week to five, with output scaled back given a fall in demand.
A Diageo spokesperson said: “Diageo has made a significant investment of more than £185 million in our distillery visitor centres across Scotland, transforming and enhancing the Scotch whisky experience for visitors and supporting the communities in which we operate.
“Following a recent review, we have proposed changes to our visitor centre operations, which regretfully, includes a proposal to close the visitor centre at Clynelish.
“We are currently engaging with and supporting colleagues as part of this process. We can confirm that these proposals are unrelated to distillery operations, where production will continue.”
As reported by The Northern Times, the closure was mentioned at the Brora Community Council with councillor Diana Royce saying: “It is not good news for the village. The whisky industry has been hit, partly by the tariffs, but they have overproduced and the market is shrinking and not expanding. They have lost a bit of traction in the Far East.”
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