Whisky themed shop in Southport toasts 'amazing' response since big move

THE Dram Gift Shop in Southport is toasting an "amazing" response from customers since moving into stylish new premises. The shop originally opened on Botanic Road, in picturesque Churchtown Village in April 2022. Its growing popularity has led to a need for bigger premises, and The Dram has now moved into a unit twice the original size just a couple of doors down. The premises were previously occupied by Arty Bitz and by Felicity Hat Hire before that. New for customers is the:- 'Peacock Lounge' tasting room, an even greater selection of whisky and spirit themed goods for people to buy and an expansion from bottles of whisky to include rums and gins.

There is every whisky themed product on sale, including:- whisky themed sauces, whisky soaps, whisky bath products, whisky salt, whisky fudge, whisky perfume, cut glass, cigar products and more. There are whisky flavoured chocolates, created specially by Botanic Road Fine Chocolate in Churchtown. And there is an impressive selection of specialty whisky, rum and gin bottles that you won't find in logical supermarkets. Shoppers can try some of the whisky on offer inside the shop before they buy.

The Dram Gift Shop owner Darren Boyd-Preece said:- "The opening weekend has been amazing, absolutely amazing. It has been brilliant, better than we could have imagined. Lots of people have been messaging me with their congratulations. We expected it to be busy, but not as good as it has been! It is really exciting. We have been delighted to welcome lots of our regular customers, but it has also been great to see lots of people who we have not seen before and who have been exploring the shop for the first time. We have been doing really well during our first year at The Dram, and started to feel a little restricted about the size of the premises we were in. When the new larger unit became available close by it was a no-brainer for us. We jumped at the chance to relocate."

The Dram Gift Shop has now doubled in size, moving from:- 76 to 80 Botanic Road, allowing Darren to increase the amount of products available for people to buy. He said:- "Having bigger premises means that our stock levels will increase. It's fantastic having our new Peacock Lounge at The Dram. It's 1 of our upgrades! This will be used for our whisky tasting events, and people can also pop in for a drink before or after heading off to your favourite Churchtown eatery. We will be open until 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays and will see how that goes. The room can also be used for private hire, for meetings or events. We are very proud of our tasting lounge and want as many people to use it as possible. As well as whisky, we now also stock bottles of rum and bottles of gin. If people come into our lounge area, they can also sit down and enjoy a prosecco, a wine or a beer. We also have lots of quality whisky and spirit related gifts on sale, perfect with Father's Day coming up. We now have a much bigger selection of gifts in our cigar section, including cigar holders, cigar cutters and cigar lighters."

It's more good news for Churchtown Village, which in recent months has seen a series of superb new local independent businesses opening, including The Dram, Signature Bistro, Barklays, Little Sparks, Arthur's, Vintage Home and more. Darren said:- "Churchtown Village has been growing from strength to strength. It is fast becoming the place to go, for shopping, for meeting friends, for meals out. Village life is thriving in Southport. Birkdale did it first, but Churchtown is now there as well."

Millions of drivers admit to being dangerously distracted behind the wheel on British roads

MORE than 10 million UK drivers could be driving erratically on British roads due to common distractions that are still technically legal in vehicles. This is according to new research that has been released by used car buying service ChooseMyCar.com. The data looked at behavioural habits of Brit drivers, with concerning results.

27% of drivers admitted to becoming distracted by in vehicle tablets; a common feature in modern cars. Whether it be used as a sat nav, to control the radio, connected to mobile phones, or as a console to control in car functions, the tablet is a focus for many distractions. While it is not yet illegal to use an in-vehicle tablet, it obviously takes a driver's eyes off the road and can lead to huge lapses in concentration. And it wasn't just the in-car tablet that was causing this issue. Sat nav systems, smart watches, food and drink, and other passengers, were all distracting to the drivers questioned.

More than 15% (which equates to over 6 million people) admitted to fiddling with their sat nav systems while driving vehicles, while more than 10% (over 4 millions drivers) admitted to checking or replying to their messages on smartwatches. The use of smartwatches in a car is still not illegal, despite calls on the Government to take action.

Other dangerous distractions included:-

• A huge 35% admitted to eating and drinking while driving (More than 15 million drivers)
   

• More than 10% admitted to using their phones while driving (More than 4 million drivers)
   

• 7% admitted to turning their heads to attend to children in the back seats while driving (more than 3 million drivers)

The most distracted age group tended to be those aged:- 18 to 34 years of age, although the:- 35 to 54 year group was close behind. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the over 55s age group were the least likely to allow themselves to get distracted.

There were also variations across geographical areas; with Glasgow and Brighton having the highest percentage of drivers who admitted to using in car tablets (36%), and Belfast having the highest number of drivers who used their smartwatches behind the wheel.

Founder of ChooseMyCar.Com, Nick Zapolski, said that drivers must pay more attention whilst on the roads or risk facing accidents. "We're all human, and I suspect very few of us would be able to say that they hadn't fallen foul of some of these distractions. It's very easy to lose focus, especially on long drives, or resist eating or having a quick sip of water. But the fact remains that all of these habits do increase the chances of accidents happening. Where possible, take steps to avoid needing to take your eyes off the road. Set up your climate control and sat nav before setting off, make sure you've had a snack, and set up the kids with their tablets and refreshments if you can. If distractions do arise on your trip, try and pull over to deal with them."

For more data on who is being driven to distraction, check out on:- ChooseMyCar.com.