Didsbury entrepreneurs grow gin business from home distillery to national brand

Two entrepreneurs have taken their artisan gin business from a home distillery in Manchester to the shelves of national department stores and the pages of Vogue – all with £20k in startup funding.

Liam Manton and Mark Smallwood founded Alderman’s Drinks Ltd a year ago, but already their Didsbury Gin brand has scored distribution deals with Harvey Nichols and Selfridges.

Hailed by Vogue as “one of the most exciting new British gin brands”, Didsbury Gin is handcrafted in batches of 10 bottles and takes inspiration for its flavours and aromas from the plants and flowers of Fletcher Moss Botanical Garden, Didsbury.

The company, backed in February 2017 with a five-figure loan from Business Finance Solutions, is now looking to secure additional investment and expand with new stockist deals.

Liam and Mark’s plans for 2018 include targeting overseas growth and recruiting two new sales staff. The gin enthusiasts also intend to look at opportunities for training young people as their hospitality offer grows.

Liam said: “Working with BFS in our first year was great. They helped us sense check our business plan, challenged us in areas where we needed to expand our knowledge and have linked us in with the Business Growth Hub who are helping us with our growth aspirations.

“Without the startup loan, we’d quite simply not be on this journey today.”

BFS’ head of lending, Roger Seddon, commented: “Liam and Mark have achieved a huge amount in the 12 months since they first came to us with the concept of a locally inspired gin.

“So many of our client success stories start as similar ‘eureka’ moments and we have been able to finance the growth and development of those concepts into some remarkable businesses that are now competing in national and international markets.”

Alderman’s Drinks Ltd gets its name from alderman Fletcher Moss, who donated the eponymous botanical park to the city of Manchester in 1915.