Downtown Kelowna will soon have another business to line Bernard Avenue, bringing with it a patio and speakeasy.

Urban Distilleries is picking up and moving from its current West Kelowna location and opening at 327 Bernard.

Owner Mark Spurgeon said when his lease was up for renewal he came across an opportunity he couldn乌鸦传媒檛 pass up, to move downtown where his business would have access to pedestrian and tourist traffic.

Urban Distilleries opened in West Kelowna in 2021 after moving to the location at 1979 Old Okanagan in 2019. However, due to COVID, Spurgeon said it wasn乌鸦传媒檛 viable to open to the public and instead the focus was on distilling.

However, the distillery has been in the Okanagan since 2010, first operating in Kelowna乌鸦传媒檚 north end off of Richter Street.

乌鸦传媒淲e originally moved to the Westside because of opportunity, to have a nice big building. And, now a new opportunity has come up for us to be a part of the vibrant downtown and we are anxious to be a part of it,乌鸦传媒� he said.

While the downtown space will be smaller, its business will focus on retail, with a small lounge - shakers, tasting room, private tasting room, a speakeasy located upstairs and a patio.

Urban Distilleries will still offer crowd favourites but will concentrate on smaller batch production.

乌鸦传媒淲e are downsizing slightly and will have an off-site storage area,乌鸦传媒� said Spurgeon.

The West Kelowna location will officially close at the end of June, giving way for the Downtown Kelowna operation to open its doors in July.

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