Congratulations to Guinness Storehouse.

The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin has been named Europe’s leading tourist attraction at the prestigious world travel awards.

The award was presented at the European gala ceremony, which was attended by hundreds of tourism and hospitality leaders from across the region.

Other listed historic and recognised attractions in Europe included Buckingham Palace in London, La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona and The Eiffel Tower in Paris. However, it was Ireland’s top tourist spot that won the largest public vote.

Speaking at the event was Paul Carty, Managing Director of Guinness Storehouse said, “Today is a very proud day for the Guinness Storehouse team.”

“We were honoured to have been shortlisted amongst such iconic attractions but to be voted by the public as ‘Europe’s leading tourist attraction’ goes beyond anything we could have imagined.”

The Guinness Storehouse holds a unique position in our imagination as well, because it was a project creatively driven by the Founder and CEO of Greenspace, Adrian Caddy.

In 1997, Adrian was Creative Director of Imagination when the company was invited to collaborate on a pitch to re-house the Guinness Hop Store visitor centre into the ground floor of the redundant fermentation plant building opposite.

The building was designed in the style of the Chicago School of Architecture and was the first multi-storey steel-framed building to be constructed in Ireland. It was used continuously as the fermentation plant until its closure in 1988.

After a site visit to the disused fermentation building, Adrian made a simple sketch proposing the idea of converting the entire building into the ultimate Guinness brand destination. One with a mix of historical attractions, brewing craft and technology exhibits, bars, restaurants and entertainment facilities available to the public.

It was an audacious pitch to make. It was a dream project to work on and for it be voted Europe’s biggest visitor attraction makes us extremely proud of the legacy it has created.

Congratulations to Imagination, and congratulations to Guinness.

Sláinte!

September 2015