The new £12m distillery supporting a Scottish island community fighting an ageing population

For Martyn Jardine, the creation of a new distillery on his island home in the Outer Hebrides gave him the chance of a better life.

The former fisherman and father-of-two, who used to spend about half the year out at sea, now helps with the running of Isle of Barra Distillery. It means a short commute for the islander and more time to spend with his family.

Martyn Jardine, right, with his colleague Jimmy Ferguson, left. Both work for the Isle of Barra Distillery | Katharine Hay

“Three weeks on, three weeks off as a fisherman is a lot of time away, especially when you’ve got two young kids, and one on the way,” he said.

“You miss Christmases, birthdays. But it got to the stage where I was able to get a job here full time and I don’t have to go away weeks at a time.”

Mr Jardine is one of a team of islanders who have benefited from new jobs since Isle of Barra Distillers Ltd was launched in 2017 by local couple Michael and Katie Morrison, which produces a signature Atlantic Gin, Dark Island Rum and Hebridean Vodka.

Katie and Michael Morrison launched their business in 2017 | Supplied

And employment opportunities are only set to climb for the island, which has a population of about 1,100. Building works for the company’s brand new £12 million distillery are to start next month.

At the moment, production runs out of a building in the island’s main village Castlebay, with one 300-litre still, named Ada, after the couple’s daughter, and a shop.

“We were told it’s good luck to name stills after a girl,” Mr Morrison said.

Some drawings of what the new distillery, which is due to open in 2026, will look like | Supplied

The new distillery, set to open in 2026, will house a one-tonne single malt installation, re-home Ada (the still), and include a bottling plant, bonded warehouse, and a visitor centre with a shop and café bar.

Once up and running, the development is forecasted to be the island’s largest employer, the founders said.

“To put it into perspective, if the same project was done in Glasgow, it would create 22,000 jobs for the population,” Mr Morrison said. “It gives you an idea of the scale of the impact it is going to have on Barra.

“So far, we have five people here, and have just recently opened an office in Glasgow where we have four full-time staff. 

“Once the distillery is built, we will need 12 staff to operate it, and then with the growth that we’re forecasting to see, by year ten we’re looking at 38 to 45 full-time staff, so we’ll be the largest employer on the island by quite some distance.”

The new distillery, which will be located to the north of the island and a short distance from the home of Compton Mackenzie, author of the cherished book Whisky Galore, will see the production of the island’s first legal whisky in the coming years.

It will also sit next door to Barra Airport, which, with no runway, is said to be the only place in the world where scheduled flights land on a beach.

Visitors to the distillery will be able to watch this rare aviation spectacle looking east from the glass-sided building. To the west, there will be views overlooking the Atlantic.

While the grand works get underway for the distillery, which will produce more than 300,000 bottles of single malt a year once complete, Mr Morrison, a father-of-three, said keeping family, staff and the community at the heart of the project was a main focus.

“This is a family distillery which obviously started with our family, but it extends to the staff, the people of Barra and the people who come and visit who have connections to the island,” Mr Morrison said.

The company, which has more than 700 investors, already sponsors the local badminton team, a children’s nursery and the Barra youth football team. It has also set up the Isle of Barra Distillers Foundation, a charity that will see 1 per cent of the net profits each year donated to community benefit projects.

“We’ll use the money to go towards what the community suggests needing done, whether it’s improving a playpark or paying towards school trips,” Mr Morrison said.

In the coming years, the foundation hopes to raise enough to build two affordable homes to sell to members of the community at cost price.

“When Katie and I moved back from working in Glasgow for a few years, we had the choice of one house that was damp and rundown,” Mr Morrison said. “Growing up here houses would be on sale for months, or a year, but now you’re looking at maybe two weeks before they sell.

“People are buying them for second homes, which is understandable, but it does make it harder for locals to buy. So we want to be able to do something to help.”

The Western Isles is forecast to lose 6 per cent of its working age population by 2028, while the over-75 population is set to rise by 25 per cent. Barra is no exception to this, with a report from the local NHS health board last year showing a “disproportional increase in the 65-plus population” on the island.

Between 2007 and last year, there was a 42 per cent increase for this age group from 218 people to 310, with the biggest increase in the over-75s category (48 per cent).

However, while the working age - people between 25 and 64 - saw a 2.8 per cent drop over this period, in the past six years, it has increased again by 4.6 per cent.

Mr Morrison said the distillery provides exciting jobs for those wanting to work on the island.

“As a company we offer a four-day working week, which staff enjoy,” he said. “It means people have a bit more time if they want to get off the island for a weekend.

“But there are also opportunities to travel with the roles. We’ve just sent two people to Mumbai, and two people are going to Shanghai. It’s nice to be able to provide exciting jobs.”

And locals said they are noticing a boost in young families on the island. Mr Jardine said: “The local school in Castlebay is booming. My son has more kids in his class than when I was at the school.

“It seems people from my generation who moved away for a bit to work like I did have come back. I always wanted to come back home and find work here, and this job has made that possible.”