The Fynoderee distillery in Ramsey is applying for planning permission to add an outside seating area to their existing bar, which is among one of its business expansions.

The Manx gin distillers opened ‘The Fyn Bar’ on Tower Road near the Manx Electric Railway stop in 2020.

An accompanying planning statement (22/00306/B) talks about the rise of ‘distillery tourism’ and said the distillery had been in contact with ‘a number of tour companies, including the cruise operators schedules to return to the island’.

The company has also recently started making Manx single malt whiskeys and rum, and is about to launch a programme of distillery tours.

It said that ‘despite the ravages of the pandemic we have seen this location attract a significant visitors to our town and business’, adding that ‘the demand for these tours is already significant and with what we will be the return of the tourist market [as the island comes out of the pandemic] we expect very large numbers of people visiting our premises this coming year’.

Other experiences that will be launched include cocktail master classes and distilling classes.

‘Introducing this outside seating area is not only a way of further providing an immersive brand experience but also a way to give those that prefer it (especially visitors from the UK who expect to have outside spaces available), the opportunity to sit outside in the fresh air,’ the planning statement read.

The seating area would be located directly opposite the shop and bar, and would initially only be used during the daylight hours – ‘to prove the concept works and cause no nuisance to the surrounding area’.

The proposed seasonal hours would be 9am to 7pm between October 1 and March 31, and then 9am to 10pm from April 1 to September 30.

No speakers would be used.

It would be landscaped, with wild bird and bat boxes in the surrounding trees and fruit trees planted.

‘Insect barrel homes’ would also be built using half gin barrels, with others used for planting with the kinds of herbs and plants that are used in the gins.

Talking about their establishment of the bar, the distillery said: ‘We would hope that despite the initials fears of some local residents to our use of the property for the many varied uses we do, those fears proved without merit and we are now a major tourist attraction for the town and have resulted in the significant improvement in what was otherwise a redundant and semi-derelict building [which was a former warehouse].’