Goodbye to the Abb, hello to Starbucks

The site of the former Abbotsford Arms Hotel has now been cleared. Photo: Bill McBurnie

Scottish Borders Council planning bosses have rubber-stamped approval for a new Starbucks coffee shop and drive-thru on the site of a former iconic hotel at the heart of Galashiels.

The old Abbotsford Arms Hotel, near the town’s Transport Interchange, closed in 2015.

It has since been associated with anti-social behaviour and has become “more of a blight than delight”, according to town councillor Euan Jardine.

Back in August last year the coffee giant submitted a planning application for its conversion and that bid has now received formal approval, with demolition and clearance work having been carried out on the site.

A council report supporting the development says the new drive-thru would “substantially benefit” the town “in comparison to the continued deterioration of the existing site, the appearance of which is clearly having an increasingly detrimental impact on the town centre”.

The report adds: “Comparing this proposal, however, to the benefits to be derived from a functioning hotel would be less easy to do. However, there is no functioning hotel, and information provided as part of this application suggests that the opportunity provided by this proposal to reinvigorate this part of the town centre should be taken, given the six year vacancy of the site to date.

“There is more benefit to be gained from approving this application than refusing it in the hope that a hotel operator may be able to redevelop it.”

Mr Jardine admitted there had been a “mixed response” in the community to the coffee house development.

He said: “This is understandable as many people have fond memories of time spent in the building.

“It has, unfortunately, in recent years become an area that has attracted anti-social behaviour and become more of a blight than a delight

“So there is a lot of optimism from the community as a new modern building will replace the old hotel alongside new opportunities. I will also continue to push for a new hotel in the town, as that it vitally important as we continue to work on the regeneration of Galashiels.”