By Scott Wright
ISLE of Harris Distillery has opened a pop-up shop in renowned Glasgow restaurant Café Gandolfi.
The move comes after the gin and whisky distiller was forced to put plans to open an Isle of Harris Gin bar at the Merchant City venue on hold, in light of tightening restrictions to suppress coronavirus. Glasgow is currently in tier three of Scotland’s new lockdown system, which came into effect at the start of the week, meaning hospitality outlets can open to sell food and non-alcoholic drinks, but must close by 6pm.
The Isle of Harris Gin Giftshop, based on the first floor of Café Gandolfi, will open from 11am to 5pm, Wednesday to Friday. Among the items for sale are Isle of Harris gins, glassware and coasters, in addition to Café Gandolfi aprons and cookbooks. On Saturdays, the gift shop will be converted into a tailoring workshop, allowing customers to be fitted up for made-to-measure Harris Tweed distillery jackets.
The Isle of Harris Distillery, based in the harbour village of Tarbert, opened in 2015, and now has a team of more than 30 full-time staff.
Brand ambassador Iona Cairns said: “We were delighted to open our pop-up shop today and have been thrilled with the response so far.
“We are very excited to be here over the coming weeks and hope our customers will enjoy a taste of the Isle of Harris in the big city (and the novelty of purchasing their gin off the shelf!).”
While plans to open a bar in Gandolfi have been put on hold, the project will swing back into action as soon as coronavirus restrictions permit.
The pop-up shop comes shortly after the distillery secured funding to support its expansion into Asia and the US, and to boost its presence in European markets and Canada.
The £750,000 coronavirus business interruption loan from HSBC will also be used to invest in additional warehouses to mature its still-to-be-released single malt Scotch whisky.
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