Scotland's first Costa Drive Thru has opened at the new Lomondgate development on the edge of Dumbarton
The 1,850 sq ft outlet, which was built by contractors on behalf
of the Walker Group and handed over for fit out by Costa at the end
of October, features a striking curved building offering seating
both indoors and outside for around 100 people.
It forms part of Lomondgate Services
along with the adjacent £4.1m Premier Inn Hotel and Malt & Myre
pub and restaurant. A petrol filling station and other
roadside facilities and visitor services are also planned.
A total of 16 new jobs have been created by the Drive Thru
opening, which is only the fourth Drive Thru in the UK.
The Lomondgate development partners took time out of their busy
schedules to grab a coffee at Scotland's first Drive Thru Costa
Coffee. Mike Edward, Development Director of Walker Group and
David Hastings, Chief Executive of Strathleven Regeneration C.I.C
escaped from the daily grind to sample some of the coffees and
snacks available at the new drive thru and café which is the latest
development in the £100m + Lomondgate project on the A82 at
Dumbarton.
Mike Edward, Development Director, Walker Group, said: "It is
amazing to see Lomondgate really coming to life after so many years
in the planning. To have the first Drive Thru Costa Coffee on the
site is a major coup and a tremendous vote of confidence in the
whole project. Judging by the initial interest, I am confident it
is going to be a huge success, not only providing a convenient
place for people driving along the A82 to pick up a coffee on the
go but also somewhere for tourists to stop off and recharge their
batteries and for local people to meet up with their friends and
have a coffee and a snack."
David Hastings, Chief Executive of Strathleven Regeneration C.I.C,
added: "It isn't hard to see why Costa chose Lomondgate Services as
the site of their first drive-thru outlet in Scotland. This
gateway to and from Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park
will become the place of choice for the millions of people
travelling on the A82 to break their journeys. Whitbread's
recent decisions to develop three of its brands - Costa, Premier
Inn and Brewers Fayre - at Lomondgate Services are a ringing
endorsement of the location's enduring strengths and provide a
platform of essential services which will further add to the
attractiveness of the other tourism and leisure development
opportunities available. "
The £100m Lomondgate project was launched in 2007 by Strathleven
Regeneration C.I.C, a public-private partnership established with
the support of West Dunbartonshire Council, Scottish Enterprise and
Diageo.
SRC formed a partnership with developer Walker Group to help
deliver its plans for a thriving new community with Lomondgate Residential
for new homes, Lomondgate Business
Park providng a new business location and Lomondgate Services
on the A82 at a gateway to Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National
Park.
So far more than £14m has been invested by Walker Group into the
development, which includes significant local road and
infrastructure improvements, including the construction of the new
Lomondgate roundabout leading into the business park and the other
main elements of the project.