Food and beverage operator The Restaurant Group (TRG) has today (March 3) opened the world’s first airport gin distillery in the landside area of the North Terminal at London Gatwick Airport.
The distillery has created a unique gin called The Nicholas Culpeper London Dry Gin, named after renowned English botanist Nicholas Culpeper, which has been distilled from an exotic blend of Chinese Cassia Bark and Angelica root from India.
Serving both food and drink, customers of The Nicholas Culpeper are able to pop in for a pre-holiday cocktail or meal against the backdrop of the functioning gin distillery, which produces up to 12 liters of gin per batch. Gatwick and TRG teamed up to create the concept after seeing a significant jump in the sales of premium gin over the last five years. Premium gins now account for 40% of all Gatwick’s gin sales, compared with 10% of sales in 2011.
Nick Ayerst, managing director of TRG, said, “We never really believed that it would be possible to distil gin in an airport. The teamwork and tenacity to create and deliver The Nicholas Culpeper has been unlike anything I’ve ever known before. I really can’t wait to open the doors to our guests and see their reaction to this truly unique dining offering.”
Spencer Sheen, head of retail, Gatwick Airport, said, “Our latest dining innovation, The Nicholas Culpeper, with its on-site gin distillery, continues our transformation of the terminal experience. This unique addition represents a diversification of the dining options available for our customers, challenging expectations of the quality and range on offer to enjoy at an airport. Our passengers are increasingly turning to more premium products, and with the introduction of The Nicholas Culpeper, we have risen to the challenge so that our passengers’ holidays truly start in the airport.”