Hill House beats leading tourist spots to award

The shop at National Trust for Scotland’s Hill House in Helensburgh today (Friday) has been announced as the best in the country by the Association for Cultural Enterprises, beating London’s Science Museum and The Globe Theatre.

Created as part of the pioneering conservation project undertaken by the Trust to protect Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s domestic masterpiece Hill House, judges were impressed with both the look of the shop and the bespoke design-led products.

The retail team sourced hundreds of new products ranging from badges and scarves to bespoke jewellery pieces and a model Hill House made from Lego bricks. A series of tea towels, mugs, T shirts and notebooks using designs created by Glasgow’s Hole in my Pocket was also shortlisted for the award in the ‘Best Range’ category.

Judges noted that the shop was ‘smart and sleek’ and commended the display of the products. Praise was also given for the incorporation of the vast chainmail box structure in to ‘innovative and unique ranges’.

This is the first time in the history of the National Trust for Scotland that the charity has won a national award for one of its shops.

The Hill House shop (Photo: National Trust for Scotland)

The awards were due to be announced at a ceremony last week at the ACE annual conference in Harrogate, which was postponed due to the Coronavirus emergency. Instead, the results of the award were revealed to winners by email.

Driving force behind the shop, National Trust for Scotland retail development manager Alex Miller said: ‘It’s been such a difficult time for everyone in the last few weeks but getting the news that we’d won has been so heartening. In achieving this award, we’ve held our own against key heritage sites The Science Museum and The Globe Theatre.

‘This means a great deal to everyone who was involved in The Hill House Box project last year and I am incredibly proud of the outstanding collaboration, hard work and sheer team effort that we collectively achieved on this project.’

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