The McCallum family from Pitlochry are facing an uphill struggle to cling to their dream of opening the Wee Choo-Choo Thai restaurant in restored train carriages.
Having faced numerous setbacks, Fergus McCallum, his wife Isara and their 19-year-old daughter Mia launched a petition to prove to Perth and Kinross Council there is backing in the community for the novel eatery.
Within 48 hours of going live, the petition had gathered more than 750 signatures, with people sharing their messages of support for the aspiring restaurant business. A total of 881 people have now signed the petition.
The plan is to situate the two former train carriages in the Rie-Achan Road car park, located beside the railway line. The McCallums have already purchased two 1984 British Rail carriages. One is a first class restaurant car and the other a first class buffet car.
While they have been brought back to their original blue paint to resemble the trains of the era, the carriages still remain in a repair yard in Derbyshire as the fight continues to bring them to Highland Perthshire.
Knockback in June
In April the council’s planning and development management committee gave permission for the restaurant to be developed on the council-owned car park.
But the permission was subject to a lease being agreed by a sub-committee. Following three objections, the decision was taken against marketing the site for lease for business use. The main issue was concern at the loss of 12 parking spaces in the town.
Since the knockback in June, Isara and Mia have worked with the council to identify eight spaces on Rie-Achan Road and four on Ferry Road.
They have also agreed to borrow more money in order to pay for these.
But the situation is taking its toll on the family. They have made the difficult decision to not reopen Isara’s Thistle and Orchard beauty salon in Pitlochry after closing during the pandemic.
Fergus explained: “My wife and daughter have wanted to open a Thai restaurant for ages.
“They thought they would start a petition to show that some people were in support of the idea and they were hoping to get about 50 signatures.
“Instead it got 50 signatures in the first hour.
“They were crying because they were so happy with the response. They were just so stunned.
750 plus signatures
“We were very surprised it was a no but they went away, researched it and worked very hard to find parking spaces.
“They don’t want to take parking away from other people. But now they’ve found them, they are looking for people’s support.”
The family are hoping to present the response to it at a planning meeting in November.
Fergus says the idea was inspired by Bridegview Station Restaurant in Dundee. They spotted it after driving past one day.
They wondered if they could do the same in Pitlochry, this time using Isara and Mia’s passion for Thai cuisine.
He added: “The whole idea is to have something a wee bit novel and unusual. There is no Thai restaurant in Highland Perthshire at the moment. The nearest ones are in Dundee, Perth or Crieff.
“Isara and Mia have listened to their community and hopefully the council will look at it again.”
Looking for an opportunity to present their case to the Property Sub-Committee’ again, the local council still has the same outlook as it initially had when the committee first voted against the regeneration of the area.
A Perth & Kinross Council spokesperson, said: “Planning permission was granted to allow Class 3 Business use on part of the Rie-Achan car park in Pitlochry in April this year but no lease had been agreed for the site, which belongs to the council.
“In terms of our duty to deliver best value, the council was required to make a decision as the landowner about whether it was prepared to lease the land for Class 3 business use.
“When the Property Sub-Committee met in June, it was asked to decide whether to lease the land for Class 3 business use in general, not on the merits of any specific proposals.
“Councillors voted five to two against putting the site on the open market for lease.”