Plans lodged for a second Tim Horton's Coffee Shop in Falkirk area

At a meeting on September 13 Falkirk Council planning committee granted permission for the world famous Canadian coffee house chain to open a drive through restaurant on land at Tryst Road, Stenhousemuir.

Now Grantchester Developments (Falkirk) Limited, the owner of Falkirk Central Retail Park, has submitted a planning application to the council for the erection of a coffee shop with a drive through facility and external seating area.

The premises is proposed to be located within the Central Retail Park customer car park area, adjacent to the northern boundary of the park near Galloway Street.

According to the application details the proposed 210 square meter coffee shop and drive through will indeed be operated by Tim Hortons, who will employ around 25 people in a mix of full time and part time positions.

The proposed opening hours for the coffee shop and drive through are 6am to midnight.

Dougie Smith, director of Ramoyle Group – the company who applied for planning permission for the Stenhousemuir site on Tim Hortons behalf – confirmed the Canadian firm was still 100 per cent behind the Stenhousemuir project and it was not being scrapped in favour of the retail park development, which is just over two miles away from it.

Mr Smith: “They are very keen to move to Stenhousemuir and, although I hadn’t heard about the Falkirk Central Retail Park plan, it doesn’t surprise me. The company has aspirations to turn out a whole range of premises.”

The Stenhousemuir plans granted on September 13 already had planning permission in principle – for a restaurant with associated parking – granted in November last year.

However, a change to the plans means the premises will now be a drive through – a first for Tim Hortons – open from 7am to 11pm daily, which will be accessed by vehicular traffic from King Street via a shared access with the B&Ms retail unit currently under construction.

While the development itself was welcomed, its location created divided opinion among committee members at the September 13 meeting.

Councillor Laura Murtagh put forward an amendment to refuse the plan on the grounds of the adverse impact it would have on traffic and on parking.

She said: “I would be happy to see a development like this in another location, but a drive through in this location is the wrong thing for this area and I cannot support it.

“It’s next to a residential area and next to a school.”

Councillor Malcolm Nicol, who backed the refusal, said: “This was initially going to be a community restaurant and public house serving the local community and I thought that was a good thing.

“Now we find that the pub is gone and I don’t think that’s a good thing. We have something completely different – a drive through take away. I think we need to be very specific about what we give approval to and I feel a wee bit caught out by this.”

It was stated the developer had agreed to provide £20,000 to help fund any traffic monitoring required.

The first Tim Hortons in the UK opened in Glasgow’s Argyle Street in May.

Tim Hortons was founded in 1964 by a professional ice hockey player. Customers at Hortons can order the infamous double-double coffee which comes with two portions of cream and two sugars.

Visit www.falkirk.gov.uk to view the plans for Tim Hortons’ Central Retail Park development.