7th December, 2015 by Kristiane Sherry

South Ayrshire Council has approved plans for a new whisky distillery, visitor centre and cask warehousing at a farm in Tarbolton, Scotland.

Set to become mainland Ayrshire’s second whisky distillery after William Grant & Son’s Girvan plant, the Lochlea Farm site has strong links to Robert Burns, the Scottish poet and lyricist.

The new distillery should provide a boost to tourism as the farm lies on the Burns visitor trail.

Businessman Neil McGeoch, 38, is behind the distillery, and has sold his pedigree Simmental cattle to focus on the site.

“I just love the whole farming way of life and the people. Letting the cows go has been a heartbreaking decision,” McGeoch told the Daily Record.

“It has been a decision made purely around my time commitments.”

Plans for the Tarbolton site follow a spate of distillery applications, with three now planned for the Scottish Borders: R&B Distiller’s Peebles venture, The Three Stills Company’s Hawick conversion, and Mossburn Distiller’s Jedforest Hotel development.