The Echlinville Distillery in Kircubbin has announced it is to develop a new visitor centre.

The new build is part of an investment of over £9million. The firm is also to create 36 new jobs as it expands its facilities in the Ards Peninsula.

Echlinville distils and bottles a range of premium and super-premium spirits. The award winning SME is expanding its distillery to help it increase production capacity and grow its brands of Irish whiskey and gin globally.

Invest Northern Ireland's CEO, Kevin Holland said: "Since establishing in 2012, Echlinville Distillery has developed a number of well-established brands which are making their mark on the international whiskey and gin market. This investment will enable it to grow further and develop its portfolio of award winning products. With an emphasis on brand development, it will also drive growth in global sales of its premium and ultra-premium Irish whiskey and gin.

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"The investment includes the development of a new immersive visitor's centre and the creation of 36 new jobs which is great news for the local Ards & North Down Borough Council area. Roles on offer include operational, administrative and visitor centre roles and once in place, will contribute over £1million of additional annual salaries for the Northern Ireland economy.

"It is impressive to see a company scale so quickly in such a short period of time. We have assisted its trade activities, recently supporting it to secure a distribution agreement in Canada. The company's Dunville whiskey is now on the shelves of almost 900 stores across Canada. Our partnership approach is clearly working and I look forward to seeing Echlinville’s export ambitions continuing to reap rewards."

Shane Braniff, Owner of Echlinville Distillery said: "This investment will help us to substantially increase our production capacity and grow our export sales tenfold over the next five years. We are adding capacity in distillation, bottling, labelling, storage and brand development, all of which are key to further establishing our brands in major international markets including Russia and the US."

Invest NI has offered Echlinville £659,000 of support towards the purchasing of new equipment, the extension of its storage facilities to meet anticipated demand for its products and the creation of 36 jobs.