Distillery toasts success as work begins on Durham City Centre premises

Work has commenced on a new spirits distillery set to launch in the heart of Durham city centre.

Durham Distillery has agreed a 10-year lease with Prince Bishops Shopping Centre for the former Royal Bank of Scotland branch on High Street.

The move follows the firm securing £250k investment from the Finance Durham Fund to assist its relocation and production of its flagship product, Durham Whisky.

The 5,000 sq ft site is currently being transformed into a working distillery, from which the spirits specialist will distill a range of whiskies, gins and vodkas.

Once the refurbishment is completed next year, the business will create a range of local jobs, such as distillery manager and distiller.

Jon Chadwick, owner of Durham Distillery, commented: “We are really excited to make this big announcement and see signs up letting everyone know where our new home will be.

“The new setting not only benefits from a central location with passing traffic to and from the Cathedral, it’s larger and means we can be really imaginative when it comes to things like visitor experience and scope for expansion in the future.

Jess Tomlinson, the distillery’s head distiller, added: “We’re not just building a distillery, we’re creating a visitor attraction to bring something different to the city’s leisure experience.

“Durham Distillery will be a hub where local people and tourists can learn about and taste real honest spirit, shop local, attend and host functions, and come along to our own calendar of events. There’s so much potential and we can’t wait to open the doors to people next year.”

Richard Toynbee, centre manager at Prince Bishops Shopping Centre, added: “Durham Distillery will be a very welcome addition to the Prince Bishops line-up.

It is vitally important to the city centre that businesses offer our customers a really good experience and together we show commitment to retail and leisure investment for the future.“