London Gatwick Airport and The Restaurant Group have today announced the opening of the world’s first airport gin distillery, following a significant surge in the popularity of premium gins.

Creating a unique gin called ‘The Nicholas Culpeper London Dry Gin’, after the famous botanist, and distilled from an exotic blend of ingredients, including Chinese Cassia Bark and Angelica root from India, the distillery is now open landside in the North Terminal.

Serving both food and drink, customers of The Nicholas Culpeper are able to pop in for a pre-holiday cocktail or a bite to eat against the backdrop of the functioning gin still, which produces up to 12 litres of gin per batch.

Gatwick and The Restaurant Group teamed up to create the gin after seeing a significant jump in the sales of premium gin over the last five years.

Premium gins now account for 40 per cent of all Gatwick’s gin sales, compared to ten per cent of sales in 2011.

A bespoke London Dry Gin recipe has been specially created by The Nicholas Culpeper’s Master of Gin, Matthew Servini.

An expert in 16th and 17th century gin recipes, Servini has created a botanical recipe modelled on that of traditional London Dry Gin, made with ingredients sourced from across the globe.

Each bottle is truly unique, with its own stamp including the batch number, production date and signature of the distiller that day.

Nick Ayerst, managing director of The Restaurant Group said: “We never really believed that it would be possible to distil gin in an airport.

“The teamwork and tenacity to create and deliver The Nicholas Culpeper has been unlike anything I’ve ever known before.

“I really can’t wait to open the doors to our guests and see their reaction to this truly unique dining offering.”