Birr, Co Offaly, is one of the few towns in the midlands which can boast a major tourist attraction, the castle and demesne, with its famous telescope.
Now the town has added another attraction to the list with the opening of the newly-restored Maltings building in Castle Street, under the shadow of the castle wall.
The fine cut-stone building, with its brick arches, was a major outlet for the local malting barley growers who sold their grain there for processing.
From there, the processed grain was transported by horse and dray to the local canal and taken by barge to the Guinness brewery at St James's Gate in Dublin.
After years of silence the sounds of industry are echoing through the mill again, and the first anchor tenant, Willie Lennox, has moved into the partially restored building.
Mr Lennox, a Tipperary-born potter, has become the first craftsperson to set up in the building, which is to become a major craft facility.
He has set up shop in one of the loading bays where man, horse and cart once waited patiently for the malt to be ready for transport to Dublin.
"The loading bays, I call them tunnels, are ideal units for craft work and I hope that others will move in here and join me in the Maltings," he said during the week.
The University of Limerick graduate works with wood and clay and has already opened his own craft shop in time for Christmas.
He arrived in Birr via Dublin where he had worked for a time in the financial services sector after he completed a business studies degree, specialising in marketing.
"I am hoping that others will join me here in the building, which is ideally located beside the best-known tourist attraction in the midlands, the castle.
"Already there are thousands of visitors to the castle, and when the gardens are restored there will be even more tourists coming here," he said.
Meanwhile, development of the building continues, and the next stage will be the provision of more than 30 houses and apartments overlooking the nearby river.
Anybody one interested in locating their craft business in the centre can contact Willie Lennox at 0509-22242.