£150m for a Scotch toast

Drinks giant Diageo is pouring a £150m investment to toast the success of Johnnie Walker.

Diageo will open a distillery visitor centre as more tourists flock to scotland to sample its whisky.

Diageo, which also owns Guinness and Tanqueray gin, is opening the centre in Edinburgh. The £150m investment, which also includes upgrading all 12 of Diageo’s whisky distillery visitor centres, is thought to be the biggest single investment in scotch whisky tourism to date.

Diageo also uses the centres as a way of encouraging unemployed people into the hospitality sector.

The company accounts for 42pc of the scotch whisky industry by volume and exports just under 33m cases a year.