Have you ever wanted to pack in the pharmacy and try something else? Or sat down in a pub and wondered what it’d be like if you ran one yourself?

That dream became a reality and more for former pharmacist Margaret Elliott-Tredinnick and her husband John Tredinnick.

Their pub The Dog & Duck Inn in Lisbellaw, close to Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, was named Northern Ireland’s pub of the year by Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) last month (August 21).

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The award means that the pub is one of seventeen other regional winners across the UK in with a chance of being crowned the national pub of the year, with the final four announced this month before the title is announced in January 2025.

Former pharmacist Margaret is from County Fermanagh but went to university in Bath where she met husband John, and while living in Bristol they became interested in distilling.

The couple returned to the area in late 2020 to set up their micro-distillery Glenwinny, as they wanted to produce Irish whiskey.

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After buying and renovating what is now The Duck & Dog pub in Lisbellaw in summer 2021, it officially opened the following summer and the Glenwinny distillery is attached on site.

CAMRA said The Dog & Duck Inn is “noted for its welcoming and cosy atmosphere” and the pub’s seasonal menu is sourced with ingredients from producers in the Enniskillen area.

Visitors can book a “personalised tour and tasting experience” with John at the distillery, while the pub offers “beer and spirit flights and hosts tasting evenings” as well.

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The distillery sells rum and brandy, and the couple anticipate their Glenwinny Irish Pot Still Whiskey will be available to buy from spring 2026.

CAMRA’s national coordinator Andrea Briers said the pubs left in the competition are “the crème de la crème.

“With constant pressure from stubbornly high energy prices, fluctuating running costs and grossly unfair business rates threatening to drown pubs across the UK, it’s vital to get out and support the licensed trade”, she added.