2 hours Ago By [email protected] (Priyanka Patel)
A couple from Coventry who won £1m on EuroMillions have made their dream life come true. Chefs Bill and Cath Mullarkey used their winnings to run a restaurant and guest house on the Caribbean island of St Lucia. Bill, 64, from Coventry , met Cath, 63, while working at a luxury hotel in 1992 in St Lucia.
When they decided to make the sun-kissed island their own, they bought a plot of land a few minutes from the beach, hoping they would, one day, build their dream home and restaurant together. However, they couldn't afford to develop their plot, so they returned to Coventry to face reality. They started working together in corporate catering but still visited St Lucia when they could.
In 2017, their fate changed when they noticed a message on their National Lottery account. Read more: Bill said he and Cat were 'heartbroken' and couldn't even 'stand on the ground they owned.' He said: "I’ll never forget that flight back to the UK.
We returned from that break thinking we would have to sell, and it would just never happen. "The day after our flight, we had to go back to work as usual. Then we found the message from The National Lottery.
We thought it was a scam, but it turned out to be genuine." The win meant both Bill and Cat's dream of leaving Coventry for the Caribbean came true. Their goal was to open their own restaurant serving Caribbean cuisine using the island's locally grown and caught produce.
He added: "We couldn’t believe it when we saw a message come up to say, ‘Congratulations, you’re a winner!’ At first, we weren’t sure if it was £10,000 or £100,000. When I called the National Lottery hotline to confirm the win, there was a long silence, and finally, I was told I had won a million pounds. "At that moment there was such excitement in the house and lots of screaming.
We celebrated with a nice cup of tea, and I didn’t sleep all night; it just wouldn’t sink in." The couple designed and built their own three-storey home, complete with holiday apartments on the ground floor, a large party deck, and a restaurant called Brigands Hideaway. "We love to cook and have the most amazing ingredients and produce literally on our doorstep.
We buy fresh fish directly from the boats at the harbour, we buy lots from the local markets, and we can even pick fruit from our garden. Using all local, in-season ingredients has gone down well with locals and tourists, and we are very proud of our five-star reviews." After project managing the restaurant and the apartment block build, they have treated themselves to a swimming pool and hope to welcome locals and tourists to their home, located a few moments from St Lucia’s famous Piton mountains.
Cath said, "We work hard but can also be on the beach within a couple of minutes. I am very proud to serve traditional St Lucian cuisine and am delighted with our great reviews. This place means so much to both of us after the journey we have both been on to get here.
"From that plot of land which we thought was lost, we now have a restaurant, holiday apartments, a swimming pool, and enjoy tropical weather all year round. Winning has changed our lives; even after seven years, we still have to pinch ourselves. It’s a long way from Coventry, and it’s all thanks to the National Lottery.
" Bill and Cath are among over 7,200 millionaires or multi-millionaires who, since the National Lottery started 30 years ago in November 1994, have had their lives changed after a jackpot win. Get daily headlines and breaking news emailed to you - it’s FREE.
