THE long delayed effort to develop a distillery at the Crumlin Road Gaol in north Belfast are now officially back on course.
The £5 million venture, first mooted by lottery winner Peter Lavery in 2012, is now being taken forward by a number of US-based business figures.
As reported by the Irish News in May, James Ammeen, Joseph Babiec, William Bocra and Mark Fuller have taken over the Belfast Distillery Company in the past year, with Mr Lavery stepping back.
The company has now submitted its own planning application to Belfast City Council to turn the listed A-wing at the former gaol into a whiskey distillery and visitor attraction.
The distillery project was previously granted planning approval by the city council in April 2013.
Belfast Distillery Company signed a lease agreement in January 2015, with the work commencing the following month. But the work came to a halt in July 2015.
Last year, the Department for Infrastructure revealed that the initial lease was for £60,000 a year. Responding to a freedom of information request in April 2018, it said no payments had been received from the firm.
The new application is largely similarly to the plan already approved, but the company said it agreed to submit new applications for listed building consent and change of use following meetings in January 2019 with planning officials.
An updated report produced by Like Architects in Belfast states: “The design approach for the revised scheme is similar to the previous approved scheme.
“Our approach recognises the importance of this grade A listed building and its unique physical features whilst understanding the benefits that the proposed development would bring to the surrounding area.”
The fresh impetus for the distillery plan follows efforts by DfI last month to secure new investors and occupiers for the former prison warders’ cottages at Crumlin Road Gaol.
The eight cottages at the front of the north Belfast tourist attraction are now being offered on a leasehold basis for commercial use.
