The last show in town (Springbank)
Campbeltown was once a thriving centre for whisky production. Now little remains. Is Springbank worth the journey? Our mystery visitor made the lengthy trek to find out
It took a long time to get to Campbeltown and, when I arrived, the profusion of palm trees in this delightfully Victorian town convinced me
that I had been magically transported from Scotland to the Caribbean.
Surely this was a little rum distillery that I was visiting? Instead, in Springbank, I found a rum little distillery, though none the less interesting for that.
Springbank is something of an anachronism â just about the last remnant of a once proud tradition that all but died out in the 1930s as, one by one, the Campbeltown distillers closed their doors.
Itâs not that easy to visit. Apart from the four hour trip from Glasgow, the distillery only offers tours from April to September, then only for four days a week and, even then, only once a day.
You have to book in advance and you can forget any ideas of a fancy visitor centre with lavishly produced corporate videos. Or a tasting. Or even a shop.
Instead, what you get is Jim, an ex-British Telecom engineer rescued from early retirement by the opportunity to host tours.
âIt passes the time,â was his laconic assessment of this radical career change.
The distillery itself is a time machine.
Though in the elegant little history book that you can purchase for £3 from the distillery office, owner Hedley G Wright makes the startling claim that âthe company has been one of the pioneers in mechanisation within the distilling industryâ, careful study reveals that this was written around 1962 â and little a.....
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By Mystery Visitor
Section : Mystery Visitor
Page number : 24
