Gunpowder store is set to sizzle as restaurant venue

A NEW restaurant and bar in a listed former gunpowder store will form the centrepiece of a new waterfront square at Granton Harbour.

• The old gunpowder store at Granton Harbour to be at heart of waterfront plan

The conversion of the sturdy 170-year-old building, which sits by the boatyard currently used by Forth Corinthian Yacht Club on Middle Pier, has been unveiled alongside a new tree-lined courtyard to be known as Heron Court.

The detailed plans have been approved as part of the larger Granton Harbour masterplan, which promises new housing, restaurants, bars and leisure facilities along the length of the waterfront area.

Granton developers Forth Ports are now on the hunt for an operator to run the new restaurant and bar when it is finally delivered within the next three years.

A spokesman said: "We are delighted to hear that planning has been forthcoming. We are now in a position to market this space for a restaurant use to complement existing activity in the area."

The two-storey building is fitted with a cast-iron hoist, which would have been used to unload goods from ships docked in the harbour, and remains of railway tracks can still be seen on the floor. The building is thought to have stored gunpowder due to the thickness of its walls.

Forth Ports intend to extend the building in both directions with a new glazed bar and restaurant area to the west, and remove the decking in front of the building to give diners an unobstructed view of the Forth.

The name Heron Court is a reference to the wading seabird that also gives its name to the eight-storey apartment block at Heron Place.

Future street names will also reference the kestrel, in line with the seafaring theme of the Granton Waterfront development, which has already seen the adjacent Lochinvar Drive named after a Second World War Forth mine-sweeping base and Hesperus Crossway named after a Leith-built vessel sunk in 1918 by a German U-boat.

Some critics of the scheme feared that the development would restrict the facilities of the nearby yacht club, but a council spokesman gave an assurance that all marine activities would be protected as part of the wider Granton Harbour masterplan.

He said: "It's important to remember that this development is just one small part of the masterplan, and was approved by the planning department without referral to committee because it is perfectly in line with the outline plans already approved as part of the masterplan development.

"However, these plans show what will be delivered at the Middle Pier in much greater detail than before, and planners are satisfied that they will have no detrimental effect on the neighbouring amenity."