Filling Station: New restaurant on the way for this prime location in Inverness city centre

The building has been vacant since the Filling Station closed in October 2023.

By Stuart Findlay

September 12 2024, 11:45 am

The Filling Station closed its doors in October 2023, despite being a popular eatery. Image: Sandy McCook/ DC Thomson.

A vacant building at the heart of Inverness city centre will soon be occupied by a new restaurant.

The Filling Station on Academy Street closed in October 2023 after being open for more than 18 years.

Upmarket estate agent Savills revealed it was marketing the building for a new business to take over the space at £6,250 a month.

After nearly a year on the market, an offer to rent the building has now been accepted.

And it is understood that it will be a new restaurant that fills the space.

Who will take the Filling Station’s place?

With the deal not officially complete, Savills is remaining tight-lipped about the identity of the new tenant.

But in its listing, the agent describes the 1,900 sq ft space as a ready-to-go “fitted restaurant unit”.

It makes sense for another food and drink business to try to plug the gap.

A new tenant has been found for the Inverness city centre building that was home to the Filling Station for 18 years. Image: Savills

And the costly fee and challenging economic climate is likely to scare off most independent retailers.

The building is owned by Scoop Asset Management, the same company which owns the Eastgate Shopping Centre.

Earlier this year, Scoop applied to renew planning permission for a major extension to the building.

It had initially been granted in 2017, when it was going to form part of a major revamp of the area around Falcon Square.

Building was not ‘commercially viable’ without extension

A statement from Pod Architects, acting on behalf of Scoop, said: “The original building is now empty and has an existing layout that is not functional for an end operator, which means it is not commercially viable without the actions proposed.

“Therefore, the proposed extension is necessary to allow for the building to be commercially lettable.”

The application was approved by Highland Council in July.

An artist’s impression of the originally approved extension to the building. Image: Scoop Asset Management

And now a new operator has been lined up to take the space, which will be a huge boost for Inverness city centre.

In addition to the main floorspace, there is also a 986 sq ft space in the basement.

What happened to the Filling Station staff?

The Filling Station opened its doors to customers in 2005. It was the latest expansion for a nationwide firm serving drink and fast food.

Before that, it was the Deep Pan Pizza Company, a restaurant known for its “all you can eat” promo.

The firm was owned by the Restaurant Group, which formerly ran more than 400 bars and restaurants across the UK.

It sold off most of its assets in 2023 and is now mainly focused on Wagamama’s and Bar Burrito.

Deep Pan Pizza was the tenant before the Filling Station, pictured here in the early 2000s. Image: DC Thomson

At the time of the Filling Station’s closure, a spokesman for the Restaurant Group said existing staff would be given the chance to be redeployed to other “neighbouring sites”.

However, the nearest Wagamama’s is 102 miles away in Aberdeen and the nearest Bar Burrito is 160 miles away in Edinburgh.

The Press and Journal asked the Restaurant Group if any of the Filling Station’s staff had been redeployed to another part of the business in the last 11 months.

A spokesman replied: “We do not have anything further to add.”