House of Boë has closed its colourful Queensferry spirits shop

The owners are remaining tight-lipped about the reasons, with no explanation on the shop’s social media pages or a note on the door or window for customers.

However, the Google profile for the shop has it listed as ‘permanently closed’.

We contacted the firm at its distillery premises in the village of Throsk, near Stirling, this week – but had not heard anything back by the time of going to press.

According to locals, the High Street shop closed at the end of March and was giving away some of its stock before the doors shut for good.

The shop opened in the former bank premises on the High Street in November 2022.

Having staged a pop-up shop in the building during the pandemic, the Boë team invested £200,000 in transforming the space to create the new shop and office.

Specialising in gins and vodkas, it quickly received a five-star Tripadvisor rating thanks to its popular gin-tasting and cocktail classes.

Themed by lifestyle retail manager Moreland, the interior – which included a neon pink flamingo, a zebra on the wall and a bespoke purple telephone booth adorned with flowers – was a riot of colour.

However, director Andrew Richardson also made the headlines after a row with Edinburgh City Council about the shop’s colourful exterior.

Having painted the frontage a colourful purple and white, the House of Boë was ordered to return the building to a “muted grey colour” with an enforcement notice being issued in October 2022, just ahead of the shop’s opening.

An appeal to the Scottish Government saw the decision being upheld in February 2023. At the time, Mr Richardson admitted he was “really disappointed” at the ruling, adding it could cost him up to £4000 to restore.

Mr Richardson said he was unaware permission was needed to change the shop front’s colour scheme. He argued that “half the high street is a different colour” highlighting the town centre’s multicoloured appearance.

He said the debacle had been sparked by a complaint from one individual “who didn’t like what we’d done”. More than 1500 people signed a petition in favour of the building’s brighter palette.