Scottish bakery owner urges customers to help after council ‘screwed over’ expansion plans

Dune Bakery in South Queensferry has become so popular that owner, Lewis Gill, has been planning to expand the business into a new unit in the town.

Opened in spring of 2024, the bakery - which is billed as having the best views of the Forth Bridges - is located in a former betting shop in the picturesque town. But, due to demand, Mr Gill started looking for a bigger site for production as well as to sell baked goods, coffee and host events.

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This summer, Mr Gill found, and put in a proposal for a unit at The Loan, which was to be leased by Edinburgh Council. Mr Gill explained that he offered £4,000 over the asking price of £27,000 and this was accepted by the council. According to Mr Gill, the building has been sitting empty for over a year.

Mr Gill said: “We then drafted heads of terms which both parties agreed to. Since then both legal teams have been working through the lease with an agreed date of entry for the 27th of October. I was expecting to sign the lease on the 23rd and begin works on Monday 27th.

“On the 23rd I was called and told they would not be proceeding and they were going to be keeping the unit for "archives", whatever that means. That was all the information I was given. This has cost us 20k in legal and planning and a further 50k is due to our contractors that had put aside 3 months for the job. This is huge for us and we want this decision to be overturned.

“I live here, I have a business here and I am trying my best to make South Queensferry as good as it can be because I really love it here but this comes just days after they have started work on the roads, which is going to be happening on the high street for the next 18 months with very little assistance for small businesses.”

In an email from Edinburgh Council to Mr Gill, which has been seen by The Scotsman, a councillor offered sincere apologies that they will “no longer be in a position to progress with granting a lease of the above property for the reason explained during our call.” The reason for this is stated as “a decision has been taken for the property to be utilised as part of the Council’s Operational portfolio.”

Mr Gill’s plans included moving bakery production to the bigger site, which would open at weekends to sell coffee, baked goods and host a small market where local producers could sell goods. There were also plans to host yoga and Pilates classes in the space as well as hopes for it to become a hub for a local running club. Mr Gill said: “Our first big event was going to be a charity run where we donated £10 to a local charity for every person that came on the run. We really just need more space, but we thought it would be cool to have a space that was big enough to allow us to do some fun things with the community.”

Mr Gill has moved to South Queensferry from Leith to try to “build on what we have already created.” He said he would “rather open here but there aren't that many units on the market.”

In a post to the business’s over 40k followers, he asked for as many people as possible to contact the council to show support for his business plans as he’s keen for the decision to be overturned. In the post, he wrote: “Even shorter description: the council screwed us over and we need your help to pester them into submission or we are going to lose a devastating amount of money. I just wanna make clear this isn’t a planning permission issue: they put it on the market, I applied, we agreed terms, we negotiated lease and deposit, they pulled it.”

When asked if he’d likely move his business elsewhere, Mr Gill said: “I obviously really like South Queensferry and have just moved out here so it's not something that I would want to do, but since posting, I have been offered a few other units in other areas. The only problem is I would still be dealing with the same council when it comes to things like planning permission. I also really like the community out here and they are all very much behind this idea. It's always a risk when you invest in something new but I thought we would at least get into the unit before that risk was realised.”

This decision by the council comes at a time when the roads in the High Street are being worked on for over a year. Locals and businesses have welcomed the improvements, but have claimed the lack of communication from the council and a worry about trade is causing huge concern. Former Scotland centre Matt Scott, who co-owns The Boathouse in South Queensferry spoke out about these works last year.

Mr Gill added: “This (the roadworks) will be massive for all the businesses on the High Street. So many people travel here to visit our bakery and other businesses on the High Street. Soon there is going to be barely any free parking and 18 months of disruption. The council have offered a voucher scheme with Itson where customers can buy a £20 voucher for £10 (but we receive the full £20) in a bid to keep people coming but all that does is benefit the customer, under values Our products and means that we won't see all of that money until itson distributes it.”

A Council spokesperson said: “We’re grateful to the Dune Bakery for their interest in leasing this space and are sorry we’re not able to take this forward. We’ve written to the business to apologise and explain – and have offered to cover the costs they’ve incurred to date.”