Whitby Gin looking to move premises to shadows of the town's Abbey in £1.8m project

Originally, the couple, Jess is originally from Whitby and Luke is from York, met while on a surfing trip while they were both students at Loughborough University.

After leaving higher education they were splitting their time between London and Manchester. She had a job in business planning within the medical industry and he was head of control at the global food company Heinz.

While touring Scotland and sampling some of the country’s gins they hit upon the idea of making one taking inspiration from Whitby and the ingredients that are borne from its shores and moors – so they had a go.

Ms Slater said: “We saw what was happening in the spirits industry and wanted a reason to move back to Whitby but there were no jobs for me that I could apply my skill set to at the time.

"Travelling there reminded me of home and we thought ‘why doesn’t Whitby have its own distillery?’

"We had it in our heads we would come back every three to six months, produce a few bottles and send them to local shops.”

After a year of exploring the feasibility and getting the necessary licences and permissions, operations began from the utility room at Luke’s parents’ house.

They sent some bottles to a couple of independent shops in Whitby and hoped they might stock them.

Within 48 hours they had placed an order for more.

The couple would go on to produce 3,000 bottles from the utility room whilst continuing to work full-time 100 miles across the country before deciding to take the business further.

They are currently based in a unit on the outskirts of Whitby where they now produce 55,000 bottles each year and all are bottled by hand – but they are at maximum capacity for the space they have.

After a lengthy process, Whitby Gin has acquired two barns in the shadows of Whitby Abbey on the clifftops in an agreement with The Strickland Estate.

The buildings were damaged in a farm fire in 1998 and have remained empty and derelict since with no-one having had a feasible business plan since to bring them back into use.

Work is expected to start in spring to make them the new home of Whitby Gin in a project worth £1.8m.

It is also a project that will encompass the couple’s beliefs in sustainability and protecting the environment.

The two barns will be joined by a green roof, use solar panels to provide power and rainwater will be harvested for the cooling water needed in the production process.

Water that is in turn created in the process will go back into the heating system while a wildflower meadow will lead from the current car park near the Abbey to the barns.

Tours and a tasting lounge will allow for visitors to take a look at the Whitby Gin story and how it is made.

Whitby Gin also has a Founder’s Club where people can invest towards the costs of the build in return for benefits.

The brand is proving popular with requests from America, Canada, Australia and Germany.

Ms Slater said: “We very naively, in the early days, thought we could come back every six months. We never thought it would be like this but as it has grown, we can see that it is a really good thing for the area.

"It comes with challenges but we love being back. We love the people, having the beach here and the sea and all the businesses that are setting up and getting national recognition.”

She refers to illustrator Jessica Hogarth from Robin Hood’s Bay, clothing and homeware retailer Bertie’s of Bay and Furbellow and Co which is a family run gentleman’s store and barber in Whitby’s old town as well as freelance photographer Ceri Oakes.

Ms Slater added: “When I grew up here, you did have to leave for creative jobs but I love that you don’t have to now.”