ALL but one resident of a small community surrounding a whisky distillery backed a petition objecting to an extension to its drinks licence – and that resident works at the company, it has been claimed.

Glenkinchie Distillery wanted to be able to sell alcohol in its visitors centre and a new outdoors garden area from 9am until midnight seven days a week.

However, a meeting of East Lothian Licensing Board was told that residents living in surrounding homes, which once housed the distillery workers, had objected, with almost the entire community signing a petition.

Petition organisers said they had 24 signatures from 19 properties in Glenkinchie itself.

One told the board: “Everyone in the village signed the petition, the one person who did not works in the distillery and we would not have expected them to sign it. Everyone else did.”

Police Scotland also lodged an objection to the long opening hours, which would exceed the board’s policy by serving alcohol on premises for more than 14 hours.

However, representatives from Glenkinchie expressed surprise at the objections, which came at a final stage in their ongoing redevelopment of the visitors centre.

David Hossack, for the company, said: “It is disappointing to receive the objections, which we take very seriously.”

He told the board the distillery already had a licence to sell alcohol between 10am and 10pm Monday to Wednesday, and to 11pm from Thursday through to Sunday.

And he moved to reassure residents that evening events at the distillery were “occasional” and by private invitation only.

Ian Smith, from owners Diageo, said concerns appeared to have been caused by the use of the term “functions” in the licence application.

But he said: “Any events are organised by Diageo and tend to be private dinners by invitation only. Occasionally we have hosted the wedding of a worker or retirement party but we are not an events company.”

Despite having a licence to operate into the evening already, it was confirmed that the distillery tended to be closed by 5pm daily with residents telling the board that from 5pm in the evening they live in a “peaceful and quiet” village.

Concerns about the impact of a new garden, which the company plans to put in to replace a bowling green and pavilion, which bordered on some of the houses, raised concern about outdoor drinking late at night.

Residents, who sent in letters of objection as well as the petition, claimed they were already faced with large groups of visitors congregating outside their homes during the day after tours of the distillery.

One resident said: “The visitors to this distillery are not the quietest of people when they arrive and are even noisier when they leave, due to the consumption of alcohol on the premises, especially the bus-loads of foreign visitors.”

Another pointed out that “19 of the 23 houses in the village share property boundaries with the distillery premises. Any outdoor function in the ‘garden area’ will create noise and nuisance that does not exist”.

A third resident told the board; “I have had incidents of people urinating against walls or fences when leaving the distillery during the day; what will it be like at night?”

Diageo’s representatives said the extended licence would allow them to host occasional events and some evening tours.

They insisted they had no plans to allow people to drink for long periods on the site but rather serve them a sample of whisky during their visit.

The board refused to extend the licensing hours into the evening but did allow the distillery to sell alcohol earlier in the morning.

The new licence allows it to operate between 9am and 10pm Monday to Wednesday, and 9am to 11pm Thursday to Sunday, with no alcohol provided outwith sample sessions before 11am.

The licence was extended to take on the new garden area planned; however, the board ordered Diageo to give all residents in the village two weeks’ written notice of any evening event and provide contact details for them to raise concerns.

They were also asked to ensure signage was in place to ask people leaving the distillery to keep noise levels down and remember their neighbours.

Following the meeting, Rhona Paisley, Glenkinchie Brand Home Manager, said: “Our relationship with the local community at Glenkinchie is very important to us and we work hard to be a good neighbour at all times.

“We have always operated the distillery and the visitor experience in a way that respects residents and minimises our impact on the local community, and that is how we will continue to operate in the future.

“We are pleased with the decision of the licensing board and we look forward to working in partnership with our neighbours when we open the new visitor experience.”