Hardengreen fast food hub: Developer believes planned drive-thrus would boost Dalkeith economy

That’s the claim made by developers London & Scottish Investments, who have applied for planning permission for a £2 million development by Starbucks and KFC which would bring up to 55 new jobs to Dalkeith as well as 20 construction jobs.

The development on land south of the Tesco petrol station would also establish Hardengreen as a major fast food and coffee hub, as Starbucks and KFC would join McDonalds who have planning permission for a new restaurant in the adjacent Tesco car park.

Bryan Wilson, development director, with London and Scottish reckons the tasty combination of the big three fast food chains would make Dalkeith a must stop destination for travellers using the busy A7 trunk road.

Mr Wilson said: “Hundreds of thousands of travellers using the A7 simply by- pass Dalkeith, without a thought of spending any of their hard-earned cash in the town.

“But we believe our proposed development is strategically placed to change that situation, offering the choice of three of the world’s biggest coffee and fast food brands only a couple of minutes off the main road.

“Both Starbucks and KFC will be located on the edge of the site and highly visible to travellers in both directions. We believe enough of them will opt to stop to help boost Dalkeith’s local economy”

Midlothian’s planning committee is expected to make a final decision on the development on November 20, after deferring the matter pending the findings of the council’s food and drink consultation. But Mr Wilson said he is absolutely confident the development will not impact on any of the local town centres.

If the development gets the go ahead work is expected to start in the Spring of next year, with both drive-thru outlets open for business in late Spring 2019.