THE LANDMARK Lochside Distillery tower at the north entrance to Montrose will disappear over the next two weeks.

An order prohibiting all vehicular traffic on Brechin Road for a distance of 200 metres westwards from its junction with North Esk Road will apply for two weeks from Monday.

The road, a key link in and out of the town, will be closed only as long as it takes to complete the long-threatened demolition of the structure safely.

Lochside was built as a brewery in the late 1800s, on the site of a much earlier brewery. The name came from the site it stood on, which originally stretched back to the shore of Montrose Basin.

Run by the Deuchars family, the highlight of its time as a brewery was probably its use for the production of Newcastle Brown Ale, which was then shipped twice a week to Tyneside.

Lochside closed as a brewery in the early 1950s and in 1956 it was set up as a distillery producing both malt and grain spirit by Joseph Hobbs.

In 1973 it was sold to a Spanish firm, DYC, who were looking for a good Scottish malt to blend into Spain’s most popular home-produced whisky.

By the start of the 1990s DYC had become part of Allied Distillers, who had plenty of capacity elsewhere to use in the Spanish market.

As a result production ceased at Lochside in 1992 and the contents of the bonded warehouse were shipped to Spain.

The distillery site is owned by Muir Homes, who have permission to build 37 flatted, detached, semi-detached and terraced units.

The demolition of all the existing buildings has progressed swiftly, with the tower the last piece to be tackled.

The tower will be replaced by the flatted element of the development and will take the basic form of a perimeter block.

While demolition is under way pedestrian and emergency access will be maintained.

The alternative route for traffic will utilise the inner relief road via the A92 North Esk Road, A92 Basin View, A935 Medicine Well Drive and Brechin Road.