Shed of the Year triumph for gin saloon marred by planning permission row

Walter Micklethwait's award-winning hut-turned-distillery in Scotland did not have change-of-use consent, it has emerged

Is a shed still a shed if it is also a piano bar, a distillery and a small farm shop? Highland council will have to decide after it emerged that the recent winner of Shed of the Year did not have planning permission to change from a disused hen coop to a small enterprise of gin-making and egg-selling.

Walter Micklethwait won the award in 2015 for transforming his dilapidated old wooden hut into a wild west-style saloon, farm shop and fully functioning Crossbill gin distillery.