Guy Ritchie has been given the green light to make gin at his £9 million microbrewery.
The filmmaker is adding another string to his bow with the venture on his 1,134-acre estate Ashgrove Farm in Wiltshire.
The council has approved plans for a gin still which comes just weeks after the Gritchie Brewing Company unveiled its 4% pale ale English Lore, now being sold in pubs across the area.
Guy Ritchie has been given the green light to make gin at his £9 million microbrewery built on his Wiltshire farm
The filmmaker (left and right with wife, Jacqui Ainsley) is adding another string to his bow with the venture on his 1,134-acre estate Ashgrove Farm in Wiltshire
His beer has gone down well with local pubs such as the The White Horse Inn, Stourpaine, and is now being sold in pubs close to his 1,134-acre luxury rural estate
The King Arthur director was handed the historic Ashcombe House, as part of a near £50 million divorce settlement with Madonna in 2008 before later changing the name to Ashgrove Farm.
The microbrewery was built from a dilapidated barn in just over 12 months, employs 12 people, and brews ‘beer in the traditional form’.
While the 49-year-old has been given the go-ahead for the gin still, he is still waiting for a bonded store – necessary to store the gin – to be approved.
Ashcombe House was originally built in 1686, although the house situated there now is from the mid-eighteenth century.
Ritchie was given planning permission in 2009 for a sporting lake and it’s now known as one of the top game bird shooting venues in the country, most popularly for pheasants.
Last October, David Beckham joined Ritchie on the estate for a day shooting partridges.
The King Arthur director was handed the historic Ashcombe House, as part of a near £50 million divorce settlement with Madonna (pictured here together with Quentin Tarantino in 2001)
A report submitted with the application states: ‘As is the legal requirement for Gin distilling a bonded store must be provided for secure storage of the product.
‘The most sensible and discreet place for such a store is to create a sunken lower floor level beneath the footprint of the consented replacement barn.
‘The store is hidden from public view and is not visible from the highway.’
Wiltshire Council said: ‘We received a non material change to a previous approved planning application from Ashcombe Estates for the installation of a Gin Still into the existing brewery area.
‘We have approved it. We have authorised the applicant can install a Gin Still.’
It said the decision on the bonded store would be decided in the spring.