Falkirk BtW owner wanted to turn car park into beer garden

However, Falkirk Council has offered a compromise and the popular pub and restaurant will be able to use part of Melville Street itself to create a terrace area where up to 50 customers will be able to enjoy a drink and a meal while keeping their distance from each other.

The latest Scottish Government guidelines say beer gardens can open from July 6 – but social distancing rules would mean BTW’s current outdoor area could only accommodate about 20 people.

Their solution was to use the council-owned Melville Street car park directly across the road from the pub to offer food and drink from BTW throughout the day until around 10pm.

“Our idea was to create a ‘village square’ atmosphere, with a marquee, bar and lots of tables and chairs, spread out,” said BTW owner Brian Flynn.

“We believe it would bring 200-300 people into the town safely and once they are there they would go on to visit other town centre businesses.”

Mr Flynn says the idea came from seeing how public spaces are used in other towns and cities including Edinburgh and Berlin – and it’s something he’s often thought would work at other times of year such as New Year and Halloween.

“We’d be happy for other traders to use it too for ‘pop-up shops’ and make it a buoyant little hub for the town to relaunch the Falkirk economy.

“It’s going to be a while before shops are open again properly so this would be something positive that would create a bit of a buzz. We really thought this was a good chance to show the town the benefit of it and we could use it again in the future whether for a beer festival or an outdoor music event or even a market.”

Mr Flynn was disappointed that Falkirk Delivers had not supported the idea.

BID manager Elaine Grant said: “Falkirk Delivers is supportive of any idea that helps local businesses trade in these difficult and unprecedented times.

“We have been a part of the town centre working group looking at how we can help local business respond to Covid-19 through a number of initiatives and methods that enable people to trade and shop safely. We did discuss at great length the BTW proposal.

“In assessing outdoor space, we look at a number of factors such as public safety and security, servicing and access, proximity to businesses and residents, public accessibility, toilets and public acceptability and after careful consideration of each of these elements, it was agreed that Melville Street car park, or indeed any car park, was not suitable for outdoor hospitality.”

Key teams within Falkirk Council – along with consultants WSP, who provide roads and environmental design services  – rejected the proposals for the same reasons.

But they are keen to support businesses working within government guidelines and Mr Flynn thanked them for their help in making alternative arrangements.

The council team is also looking at other options such as a pedestrian-friendly hub at Callendar Riggs for which they would need external funding.