I'm the Willy Wonka of spirits - people love us so much we have to turn dozens away every night

Gin and Brews in Stoops Hall Yard, High Street, is about to celebrate its second anniversary, with top entertainers lined up for a weekend of revelry starting on February 28. The bar is the brainchild of Katie Harris, the founder of Spirit of Garstang gin and rum company, who is affectionately known as the Willy Wonka of the spirits industry for her “weird” flavour inventions.

She is keen that people hear the positive news coming out of the hospitality industry, and says many bars and micropubs are flourishing - if they get the main ingredients right.

“It’s all about hard work”, she said. “You can’t just open and close up, it’s everything to do with what people don’t see. I was up last night till 11pm labelling stock.”

She added: “When we started with Spirit of Garstang, we were doing loads of local deliveries and realised that nobody was doing craft ales and wines. We opened our first microbar because everywhere else in Garstang was tied (to a brewery), offering the same old stuff like Gordons and Whitney Neil.”

After a year, the first bar closed and the business relocated to the High Street. They offer 90 different beers that can be taken away or drunk inside, a big selection of gluten free drinks, alcohol free drinks, cocktails, as well as charcuterie boards and pizzas.

Katie said: “It’s taken off really well, and actually we’re losing so much business because we’re that busy, we’re turning people away. We can regularly turn away 80 people a night. February is known as the quietest time in this industry, but we were still full up this week on a Wednesday night. It shows that if you think outside the box, people will come.”

To address the capacity issue, the bar expanded into the next door premises last September, and now are looking at opening in a new - and as yet undisclosed - Lancashire location.

The number of staff is set to double from five to 10.

Katie says it’s been a “crazy” five years for her business, which came after a career in marketing and in the wider drinks industry. She said: “I’ve always been in and around the drinks industry, but I was bored with the same old stuff, so I started playing around. I don’t like providing the same old things, so people put me to the test, and some of our stuff is weird. People call me the Willy Wonka of the spirits industry!”

Some flavours invented by Katie include jam roly poly flavoured vodka, amaretto gin, apple crumble and custard gin, and a new Baby G rum - just in time for St Patrick’s Day.

She added: “You have to be different. You have to explore trends, do your home work and there’s a lot of trial and error involved in getting the flavours right. The Baby G has been the hardest drink so far - in terms of copyright and flavour. It’s taken four years to develop, and it’s been especially hard for me because I’m celiac and the last time I had a Guiness was four years ago. People say ‘oh my God, how do you remember what it tastes like?’” But I do, and I and I won’t put anything out until I’m absolutely satisfied with it.”

Celebrations

Second birthday celebrations at the bar take place on February 28 and March 1 featiring a Whitney Houston Tribute act and Fylde coast’s 70s and 80s boogie star Lionel Vinyl.