York whisky shop from Royal Mile Whiskies owners plans

The Dormant Distillery Company, which owns the Royal Mile Whiskies merchants and other brands, has applied to open a shop in the former Smiggle store in Coney Street.

The company’s licensing application stated the store would serve as the world-respected whisky seller’s flagship store for England.

Plans from the firm come after children’s stationary and accessories brand Smiggle closed in Coney Street in June last year.

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The whisky seller’s store would open from 10am to 10pm daily if the application is approved by City of York Council.

Plans stated: “The application is for a world respected independent whisky retailer, opening its flagship store for England in York.”

The Dormant Distillery Company is based in Perth, Scotland, and is part of the Vintage Saga group which acquired it and the various brands it owns in 2022.

Dormant owns Royal Mile Whiskies which launched with the opening of a shop in the street of the same name in Edinburgh’s old town in 1991.

The shop would open in the former Smiggle store in Coney Street which closed last year (Image: Newsquest)

It launched a website in 2000 which has gone on to sell whiskies to customers globally and also has a store in St Andrews.

Royal Mile won Whisky Magazine’s Retailer of the Year award in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2015.

They also won Online Retailer of the Year in 2020.

Owners Dormant Distillery Company started as a retailer and occasional bottler in 1997.

The firm specialises in selling whiskies, particularly Scottish single malt whisky, and has released its own limited edition products under both the Royal Mile and Dormant names.

The latter produced a series of independent single cask releases from 1997 to 2007 each of which was from a dormant Scottish distillery.

The Dormant Distillery Company also owns the Cigarbox store in Edinburgh and the Drinkmonger shops, also in the Scottish capital and Pitlochry.

The licensing application for the York store is open for public comments until Friday, July 10.