Festive Focus: Meet Durham Distillery's owner Jon Chadwick

Can you introduce yourself and your business to our readers?

“I’m Jon Chadwick, the owner of Durham Distillery which is a craft distillery in the North East of England.

“I founded the company in 2014 and we are best known for our gin and vodka products. We are a team of seven staff in total, including one of the UK’s few female distillers Jessica Tomlinson.

What was your company’s biggest achievement of the year?

“Earlier this year we announced some exciting plans to expand into larger premises in the centre of Durham, where we will start production of the region’s very first whisky, Durham Whisky.

“The new distillery will be in the impending Riverwalk complex neighbouring the Odeon cinema and several restaurants as part of its £30M redevelopment. We can’t wait for it to open in 2019!”

How would you approach 2018 differently, given the chance?

“Nothing, it has been a great year.”

What are your company’s plans for the New Year?

“It will be business as usual producing and selling Durham Gin and Durham Vodka, alongside managing the development of our new distillery, so we’ll be pretty busy!

“Jessica is working hard on the concept of Durham Whisky so we can hit the ground running with production as soon as we are in the new distillery, and we are also planning our distillery tours where visitors will be able to see how we make our gin, vodka and soon-to-be whisky.”

What are your plans for the festive season?

“This is the busiest time of the year for us, so I will be running around like crazy until Christmas Eve.

“I’m planning a quiet Christmas with family and a big New Year’s Eve party.”

Your favourite Christmas song?

“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas [by] Judy Garland.”