As you will be aware, the lease for the Antlers went out to tender in
December 2024, also offering the opportunity to the current
leaseholder Andy Malcom, who decided not to re tender. We did
however receive two applications, one on-island and one from the
mainland. Following review of the tenders, we are pleased to announce that the
lease has been awarded to a collaboration of the Island Bakehouse and Deer
Island Rum.
We would like to thank Andy and Isla for their business at the Antlers over the
last four years, as well as thanking all who worked there – many an ice cream was
enjoyed and having a business of this nature on Jura is a huge benefit to all.
Going forward, they will be removing their equipment from the Antlers and
cleaning the premises in preparation for the new tenants taking over on 1st April.
We wish them all the best in their new ventures on Islay and further afield. Andy
will be contacting those who still have crafts etc in the Antlers to arrange for
them to be collected prior to the end of March.
We are aware that this is a tight turnaround time for the new tenants to be open
for Easter and will give them all the support we can to get things up and running
for the community and look forward to what they will bring!
Thank you to all those who completed the survey re the Antlers – we had an
amazing 65 responses, which helped us in our decision making re the future of
this important community asset.
From the upcoming new tenants..
The rumours are true…..
DeerIsland Rum + The Island Bakehouse = DeerIsland Bakehouse
We are delighted to confirm that we have been offered, and accepted the lease on the Antlers. Our island businesses have collaborated wherever possible over the last three years we are delighted to be entering into a more permanent collaboration.
We are busy working away in the background and we can’t tell you everything you want to know right now but what we can tell you is:
- The Antlers will operate as a working bakery and a bar.
- We are aiming to open for Easter weekend.
- We are in the process of applying for our premises licence but have a short-term solution to enable us to sell alcohol before getting our full licence.
- The Island Bakehouse will lead on the daytime food offering and DeerIsland will lead on the evening food and drink.
- We will be offering things like: sandwiches, soups, salads, pies, sausage rolls, bread, cakes, grazeboards, and much more.
- We will of course be selling cocktails but not just rum cocktails (we will also be selling other drinks like beer and wine)!
- We are prioritising coffee!! We are working with Arygll Roasters to source the right machine and will of course be using their coffee beans.
- Our in-season evening food offering will be very simple but we intend to offer more evening food options and sit-down meals during winter.
- We will be looking to work with as many local food businesses as possible, both on Jura and Islay, as well as businesses across Argyll.
- We are still figuring things out.
- We have existing businesses that we will continue to run and families to look after.
- For this reason, we anticipate opening Tuesday to Saturday (with evening openings Wednesday-Saturday).
- We are looking for staff.
- We are still figuring out how many staff members we need and what sort of hours we need help with but if you are interested please reach out to us at either team@deerisland.co.uk or islandbakehouse@icloud.com (we haven’t even set up a joint email account yet).
We hope the above answers some of your questions for now. We will keep you updated on the Community Facebook page and in the Jottings.
Thanks to everyone who has stopped to congratulate us and thank you to the JDT for understanding our vision and giving us this opportunity.
Team DeerIsland Bakehouse