Crumlin Road gaol is ready to open its doors next month for tourists

ONCE it was home to fine dodgers, joyriders, criminals, paramilitaries and supergrasses.

Now the Crumlin Road prison in north Belfast is being transformed and the new owners are ready to hire.

With one part being turned into a whiskey distillery, the new owners have a headache of a different sort.

For it has been revealed that 2,000 people have applied for just 30 posts at the Crumlin Road Gaol once it is re-opened after a major refurbishment.

Jobs up grabs include tour guides, caretakers and receptionists.

The ‘Crum’, as it was known to inmates, warders and visitors, is expected to open in late November and tours will be operated by Belfast Tours Ltd.

Director George Grimley said: “We are delighted to create these new jobs in North Belfast as we start to build the team to deliver a first class visitor experience at Crumlin Road Gaol.”

The Grade A listed building was designed by renowned architect Charles Lanyon, who is also responsible for Queen’s University Belfast, and opened in 1846 but has been derelict since 1996.

You’re barred…Peter Lavery is opening a whiskey distillery in the old Crumlin Road gaol

Earlier this year, Belfast man and £10.8 million lottery millionaire Peter Lavery revealed he plans to turn one wing of the jail into a whiskey distillery.

It will have a glass ceiling and visitors can view the distillery produced his three whiskies beneath.