Whiskey in Ireland

Peter Lavery yesterday launched a ?5 million pound investment at the Crumlin Road Gaol to bring whiskey production back to his native city UP to 60 jobs could be created at Belfast’s historic Crumlin Road Gaol if plans announced yesterday by lottery winner and entrepreneur Peter Lavery ‘mature’ according to plan.

The bus driver turned businessman, who won £10 million 16 years ago, plans to establish a distillery at the former prison with a £5m investment he reckons could soon be generating more than £3m a year in drink sales and revenues from curious tourists.

Already selling more than 200,000 bottles of his Danny Boy whiskey worldwide every year, he recently added the Titanic label and now plans to bring both brands to Belfast, the first time a whiskey has been produced in the city for 75 years.

The Belfast Distillery Company (BDC) is the consortium led by Mr Lavery and which has now been chosen as the preferred bidder for the lease and regeneration opportunity of A Wing at the Crumlin Road Gaol.

The plan involves sympathetically developing the three-storey building into a boutique distillery alongside a world-class visitors’ centre, tasting room, bar, restaurant, shop and interpretive area.

A key element of the scheme is to operate tours, positioning the venture as a ‘must-see‘ destination for visitors to the Province and Belfast.

If permissions are achieved he said it was hoped to have the business operational in a little over two years.

“The existing form of the A Wing in the gaol is ideally suited to this new use without compromise to the character or to the architectural and historic interest of this Grade A listed building,” he said.

“The BDC will be the first distillery to operate in Belfast for over 75 years and will be bringing back to prominence an industry with which the city has long historical associations.

“I’m delighted that we will be able to bring the production of Titanic and Danny Boy whiskeys home to Belfast.”

Although whiskey produced at the site will have to be matured for at least three years before it can be bottled and offered for sale, Mr Lavery admitted he might not be the first to produce a drop of the hard stuff in the gaol.

“I don’t know about whiskey but I wouldn’t think it’s the first time alcohol has been made in the prison,” he laughed. “But it’ll certainly be the first time that anyone’s going to be paying duty on it.”

The ambitious plan received formal backing during a launch at the gaol yesterday attended by junior ministers Jonathan Bell and Martina Anderson.

The A Wing project is part of the wider Crumlin Road Gaol and Girdwood Barracks regeneration project which aims to bring economic, social and environmental benefits to the local community.

“The proposed development by the Belfast Distillery Company is a very welcome boost for north Belfast,” said Ms Anderson.