A HUSBAND and wife in Barry have opened a new store selling homegrown spirits.
Claire Whalley and her Husband Tim started their business Craft Republic in the Goodsheds in Hood Road in August 2020 after seven years of planning.
The couple largely operated their Barry Island Sprits and Co on the premises, which sells craft beers, gin, vodka and wines.
Now after high demand from customers, the couple have opened their first store on Barry High Street.
Ms Whalley said: “We developed Barry Island Gin for when the bar opened in 2020 during the height of the pandemic and the response for the gin was overwhelmingly positive from our customers.
“Shortly after the October firebreak they reached out to us to see if they could buy the gin for a present or whether they could click and collect them.
“We thought as the Barry Island gin and Barry Island vodka was popular Barry Island Spirits and Co needed its own place and with the growing feedback and growth in popularity it was time to give it its HQ.
“We wanted to be on the high street for a while, as we work well with other local businesses, we found out the space was available near the butchers and jumped on it.”
The mum of one along with Mr Whalley grow botanicals used in their gins from their garden at home, with the distiller based in the Vale.
The award-winning gin and rum won three awards this summer between them, at the Great Taste Awards.
Not only that but Mr and Mrs Whalley featured in a TV series on Amazon video titled Business as Usual which they filmed for the last few years.
She added: “We are so proud to be putting the name of Barry Island out on the international scale with a positive light and reputation we hope it draws more attention to the fantastic things coming out of Barry.
“We are working really hard to make sure we got a good range of products, all hand-picked by us, and we are doing what we can making it as accessible as we can.”
Prices of Barry Island Gin, pink Gin and Barry Island Rum are priced at £39.95, while the organic Barry Island vodka is priced at £32.95.
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