Diageo secures permission for £26m factory expansion

The expansion of the site – one of only two global production sites for the Baileys Brand – will enable the group to improve its logistics and warehousing facilities.

Diageo’s facility at Mallusk produces more than 60m bottles of Baileys every year, sending them to 150 countries worldwide. Work on the multi-year project is expected to commence in early 2024.

Commenting on Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council’s decision to grant planning permission, Bailey’s Mallusk operations manager Lesley Allen said: “The extension will support the storage, delivery and distribution of raw materials and finished goods and we are looking forward to the opportunities it will create for us.​

Contribution to the local community

“Baileys makes a considerable contribution to the local economy in Northern Ireland, and over 97% of our output is shipped around the world. ​

“We are confident that the planned extension will support Diageo’s wider growth strategy, building on the £40m investment we made in opening the site in 2003 and the ongoing investments to further develop the facility and the Baileys brand.”​

The Mallusk site focuses on the original Baileys Irish Cream Liqueur and includes the production, bottling, labelling and storage of the product before distribution.

Diageo in Northern Ireland

It is one of three Diageo sites in Northern Ireland, which also includes a beer canning and packaging facility in East Belfast and its corporate headquarters located in Belfast city centre.

New of the Mallusk factory expansion comes just over a year after it announced it would invest €200m (£170m) in Ireland’s first purpose-built carbon neutral brewery.​​

The new facility on a greenfield site in Littleconnell, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, will brew lagers and ales including Rockshore, Harp, Hop House 13, Smithwick’s, Kilkenny and Carlsberg. Diageo expected the construction to create 1,000 jobs, with 50 more on site once built.

Meanwhile, food to go manufacturer Around Noon has announced plans to open a new factory in Slough near London,​​ creating 200 new jobs.