Belfast whiskey distillery project gets green light

Titanic Distillers has gained planning permission to build a distillery and visitor centre on the site where the RMS Titanic was built.

Businessman Peter Lavery first revealed plans to build a distillery and visitor centre in Northern Ireland’s capital in November 2020. Belfast City Council has now given the project planning permission.

The distillery will be housed in a listed building in the heart of Belfast’s Titanic Quarter, the Pump House, along with its neighbouring dry dock. The site was first opened in 1911 to accommodate the White Star transatlantic liners Olympic and Titanic.

Plans for the site include the installation of three large stills on a mezzanine floor overlooking the original pumping engines. Furthermore, the site will retain its original pump equipment and other historical features, which will be available to view as part of the tour.

The facility will also include an adjacent tourism centre, featuring an on-site speakeasy bar and café, a gift shop, exhibition space and tasting rooms.

Titanic Distillers director Richard Irwin said: “Titanic Distillers is inspired by the people who worked in Belfast’s shipyard more than a century ago ­– and now tourists will be able to walk in their footsteps in the very Pump House and dry dock that represent such an authentic part of the Titanic story and indeed the history of Belfast.

“At Titanic Distillers, we are very aware that we have a big responsibility as custodians of a hugely historic and global brand, and it is crucially important that we preserve the historical integrity of this building and its surrounds.

“The Pump House has survived remarkably well for more than 100 years in a very harsh environment but it is in much need of repair and any further decline would represent a major risk to its future – so our first priority is to restore the building and bring it back to its former glory while maintaining and securing its long-term future.”

Furthermore, Irwin said the company will partner with stakeholders and funders, including Invest Northern Ireland, on the project. He added: “Hopefully, we will be in a position to make a further announcement on this in the not-too-distant future.”

Visitors will be able to ‘clock in’ as workers did 100 years ago, and hear about the story of Belfast’s whiskey history and why it disappeared.

‘Great distilling tradition’

Lavery, director of Titanic Distillers, said: “In the days before Prohibition, Belfast was once the largest producer of Irish whiskey on the island of Ireland.

“Whiskey has played an important part in the history of our city. We want to revive this great distilling tradition and bring Belfast back to the forefront of Irish whiskey production, while at the same time telling the story of a glorious past when Belfast led the way globally – not just in shipbuilding but across many areas of industry, manufacturing and innovation.

“We are excited to tell this story through our whiskey and our vision to develop the Pump House to create a truly authentic experience that will allow visitors to feel they were really there.”

The site is one of two planned distilleries for Belfast, where a distillery hasn’t operated in the city in more than a century.

The Belfast Distillery Company received planning approval in March this year to build a £25 million (US$34.7m) whiskey distillery on the site of a former jail in Northern Ireland’s capital. Lavery was initially involved in the original plans for the long-delayed project.