THE WINE MERCHANT. An independent magazine for independent retailers
Issue 128, September 2023
Dog of the month: Gilbert D Byrne, Clitheroe
Byrne prepares to reopen its famous wine labyrinth Clitheroe merchant hopes original King Street premises will be refitted by Christmas following three years of closure
T
he famous Victorian cellars of D Byrne & Co could be reopened before Christmas.
During the pandemic the Clitheroe
wine merchant vacated its labyrinthine shop, where the business was originally established in 1879, and began retailing from its nearby warehouse. “It was purely out of necessity,” says director Joseph Byrne. “With social distancing, the cellar became one in and one out, so we would have been potentially crippled if we didn’t do something drastic.” Having successfully traded from the spacious Brewery site in Shawbridge for the last three years, “it works better than we anticipated,” admits Byrne, who adds the business will continue to use the modern premises as its operational hub. But the Byrne family hasn’t forgotten about its original and much-loved shop on King Street, which has been undergoing a bit of a facelift including some serious restoration of the cellars, all of which is edging towards completion. “We’re now building towards getting the shop back up to full capacity and it’s good to see the original shop back up and doing,” says Byrne. “The cellars aren’t in use at the moment,
Boutique hotel welcomes Feral Pig to the premises
unfortunately. Over the past two years the shelves have been eaten by woodworm, so we’ve almost had to rip everything out and start again.”
KERB in Manchester is one of several independents which design and produce branded T-shirts to sell to customers. Read about how it's done from page 27.