The Department for Communities invites applications for an operator to manage the visitor centre and cafe at Ballycopeland Windmill outside Millisle. The site closed in April 2024. Bids close at 3pm on April 15.

The contract starts with three years and may extend to February 2037. The windmill is Northern Ireland's only working example. A petition with 2,689 signatures called for it to stay open.

Refurbished in 2020 at a cost of £1.7 million, the site includes a cafe with seating for 50 indoors and 25 outdoors, plus new parking and a learning space. It drew 3,000 visitors yearly before closing.

The four-storey stone tower mill dates to the 1780s or 1790s. It first appeared on ordnance survey maps in the 1830s. The last remaining windmill in County Down, it features a miller's cottage and kiln.

Built during County Down's grain production period when over 100 mills operated locally, it now stands on Windmill Road about a mile from Millisle village. The Ards Peninsula holds other attractions including Mount Stewart and Scrabo Tower.