PLANS for a new £8.15 million base for John Gilmour Butchers on land previously earmarked for a greyhound stadium at Wallyford have been unveiled.

The third-generation family firm, which has built up almost 70 years of trading, is hoping to submit a planning application to East Lothian Council shortly for the facility on a nine-acre site at Victory Lane which will create new jobs and apprenticeships.

They have outgrown their current factory at Macmerry, which supplies meat to restaurants, caterers and hotels including Gleneagles, The Balmoral in Edinburgh and Cameron House on Loch Lomond, and fulfils online deliveries UK-wide.

Over the last four months alone, the company is 38 per cent up on pre-Covid sales.

At first, they thought they might have to relocate to Midlothian but the chance to purchase the stadium site came up – separate from land acquired by Ambassador Living for a nearby development of 94 new houses.

Brothers Dan and Simon Gilmour, who were brought up in Belhaven, are hoping expansion of the business to Wallyford will be a legacy to their late father John who passed away on March 21, 2020. Born on March 29, 1952, in Prestonpans, he developed the business over the years, making the move from the family’s original shop in Prestonpans to Macmerry.

In addition to the new 45,000 sq ft factory, a deli, selling local produce including the firm’s own meat, is proposed and it is hoped to introduce a discount scheme in the deli for Wallyford residents.

Dan stressed that the new premises would be “a big butcher’s shop” – not a slaughterhouse – and would be “low-profile”.

The greyhound stadium structure, which has stood for about 20 years, will be taken down to make way for the new factory.

Dan said: “We will have beef, lamb, chicken and venison delivered to us and then our butchers take it from there. It is a very clean, noise-free, smell-free environment.

“All our deliveries come from about 8am-3pm so there is nothing that would wake people up or disrupt people.”

He added that they would look at installing solar panels at the factory in a bid to make it as “efficient” as they could and were proposing to install 10 electric charging points for vehicles.

John Gilmour Butchers, which has a workforce of 53, specialises in dry aged beef, intensifying the flavour of sirloin and fillet, making the meat very tender.

Dan said that the firm had also been working on a meat-free range for the past two years, in conjunction with a food scientist.

He said that, with the current Macmerry premises, the business had passed its comfortable capacity with storage and added that they were having to turn business away.

“There is a lot of business all over the UK which we’ve been asked to tender and look at, and we are pretty much at capacity. If we had the facilities to take that business on, the direct result is that we could employ more people,” he said.

“We want our butchers, current and future, cleaners and office staff, to come into a really nice, clean, comfortable environment. It’s going to be a fantastic facility.”

The new premises at Wallyford would have a small exercise room as well as shower and changing rooms, and cafeteria.

The firm tries to take on two or three apprentice butchers a year and it is keen to progress its apprenticeship scheme for county young people at the new factory.

It is also hoping to partner other local producers in allowing them to make use of its fleet of vans to join in with deliveries all over Scotland and the UK free of charge in a bid to reduce their carbon footprint.

“We want to see other East Lothian businesses doing well. It’s something my dad was passionate about – supporting local businesses,” Dan added.

It is also hoped to use electric vehicles to make deliveries to Edinburgh.

“This is going to mean a terrific amount to our business – it’s going to allow us to bring more business into East Lothian and employ more folk. It’s a win-win,” said Dan, who hoped that an additional 35 people would be employed within the first two years of opening the new factory.

He added: “We will and are extremely keen to engage with the local community at every stage during this project. We see this as a great opportunity not only for Gilmour Butchers but Wallyford and the wider East Lothian community.

“Myself, Simon, Rebecca, our sister, and mother Teena are incredibly proud East Lothian folk. We’re very happy that our business has the opportunity to remain and thrive in East Lothian.”

The company is also planning to retain its Macmerry premises and no timetable for the opening of the new base at Wallyford has been confirmed.

Alister Hadden, chairman of Wallyford Community Council, said: “It will be good to see the steel frame structure coming down, signalling the commencement of the Gilmour Butchers meat processing factory which, when completed, will hopefully bring much needed further employment to the area, along with an apprenticeship scheme and retail outlet providing fresh local produce to our communities.

“We hope it proves to be a good investment and asset for Wallyford, East Lothian and beyond.”