Alnwick's Hotspur Gin makers Pilgrim Spirit Company loses appeal over advertising banners

The Pilgrim Spirit Company, which produces Hotspur Gin, submitted an application to Northumberland County Council for advertisement consent in relation to banners advertising its product.

The building, at 32 Bondgate Without, also houses the Northumberland Gazette office.

A heritage statement submitted with the bid pointed out that ‘the building has historically displayed signage consistent with the corporate identity of the sitting tenant’ and that the surrounding area is of ‘commercial character’.

It added: ‘The advertising banner does not involve any external structural alterations on either the front or side elevations and does not significantly change the appearance, but raises public attention to a locally produced product and remains sympathetic to the building and its surroundings.’

However, the proposals were turned down as planning officers said they ‘would have a significant detrimental impact upon the visual amenity of the street scene within this part of the Alnwick Conservation Area and upon the setting of nearby listed buildings’.

Alnwick Town Council had objected, saying the size and scale was out of keeping with the area and that the material ‘is disrespectful of the heritage of the town centre’.

Following an appeal, planning inspector C Dillon upheld the refusal, concluding that ‘both advertisements proposed would be harmful to amenity including the character and appearance of the host building, the surrounding Alnwick Conservation Area, and the setting of nearby listed buildings and a scheduled monument’.

Pilgrim Spirit Company, which was founded in 2017, launched Hotspur Gin last April.

Earlier this year, Boris Johnson was presented with a specially-made bottle of the gin to mark Britain’s departure from the European Union, at an event when the Prime Minister was in Sunderland for the Brexit day cabinet meeting at the end of January.