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LCB’s Glasgow warehouse tailors its Scottish offering
It’s not just Santa bringing treats from the north – London City Bond (LCB) serves both whisky lovers and trade clients at its Glasgow site.
London City Bond (LCB) may have its origins in the English capital, but Glasgow is another key city in its business proposition. That should be no surprise: Scotland is hugely important to the UK drinks trade. In its latest report, the Scotch Whisky Association estimated the industry contributed £7.1 billion to the UK economy.
LCB therefore operates a warehouse in Hillington, Glasgow. The 115,000 square foot property offers all the services one would expect from a leading bonded warehouse: storage under bond or with duty paid, integrated logistics options and HMRC approvals for full compliance.
However, its position in Scotland’s second city also means the Hillington site has specifically adapted to the needs of its Scottish clients.
Assurance for whisky lovers
Anyone who follows the Scotch whisky industry will know that bottles can change hands for very large sums. A substantial part of LCB’s work in Glasgow, therefore, focuses on valuable spirits.
The warehouse has a dedicated area for high-value and rare spirits. The space is available for the drinks trade; the bulk of its use, however, is for private clients.
As you would expect, that section of the warehouse has additional security features. The area is under additional video surveillance, as well as other measures which, understandably, the company keeps under wraps. Only authorised personnel can work within the area, adding further peace of mind.
LCB has also adapted to the practical demands of storing high-value and rare spirits at this Glasgow hub. Charging is per bottle, offering flexibility when single bottles might easily exceed the value of a pallet of other products.
Moreover, the staff are accustomed to dealing with the whole range of product presentations. Whether it is an individual bottle, or a special release complete with cabinet, decanter and suitcase, it can be housed in the area. LCB is also attending to the growing trend of private individuals buying a cask of whisky, as the site is well-placed to offer storage as it is bottled.
With such a range of high-value products – particularly Scotch and Japanese whiskies – there are also condition report photography and other photography services available. Clients from around the world are able to check on their stocks online as they wish.
Serving the trade
Of course, even if your Macallan collection is a little wanting, there are still benefits to using a warehouse in Scotland. The Glasgow warehouse means that LCB can serve the drinks trade across Scotland.
For distilleries, it is an easy first point of contact. LCB can arrange under bond collections from bottling plants or distilleries using its UK Movement Guarantee. It also serves as an easy pathway to export markets.
For other customers, it provides a useful local foothold. That is ideal for localised companies, but is also handy for national businesses.
Many in this latter camp have an account elsewhere in LCB’s network, but also hold a second account with the Glasgow warehouse. These customers can then take advantage of LCB’s internal transfer system, reducing their delivery expenses as the goods will then leave from Glasgow. Storing stock locally also makes it much easier to satisfy customer demand, an advantage that an increasing number of clients are recognising.
Regardless of the stock’s origin, clients can take advantage of delivery from Glasgow throughout Scotland using LCB’s transport network. Using LCB’s online account system, they can then place and track orders, in addition to viewing stock reports and other analytics.
The site also offers other ease-of-use adaptations: individual bottle picking, integration into e-commerce platforms (such as Shopify) and reworking labelling and packaging (to name a few).
It means that, even if Glasgow is not immortalised in the company name, it has become a central part of LCB’s offering. From storing one-off bottles to on-trade essentials, its wealth of options mirrors the diversity that Scotland brings to the UK drinks system.
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