Spirit of Manchester Distillery closes
UK-based Spirit of Manchester has permanently closed its city-centre distillery and bar, and made its entire workforce redundant.
Co-founder and master distiller Seb Heeley announced on LinkedIn on Tuesday (12 August) that the distillery would be closing its bar, named Three Little Words, located at its distillery under the railway arches in Watson Street.
Heeley and his wife, Jennie Heeley-Wiggins, founded the Spirit of Manchester brand in 2016.
Heeley attributed the closure to a “perfect storm” of rising costs, taxes and pressure on customer wallets stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to an “unsustainable business model”.
“We’ve done everything we plausibly could,” Heeley told The Spirits Business. “You know, it’s not happened overnight. We’ve been battling.
“Ultimately, we only got five months of a pre-Covid world in a bar, and then after that the whole business was turned upside down. For the last two years, it’s been a huge struggle. It’s been brutal.”
Although the Manchester site is closed in its entirety, Heeley said the intention was to “continue making liquid somewhere in Manchester”.
“We started this business in our dining room and if we have to, we’ll go back to the dining room and go back to the core,” he said.
“We’ve worked so hard and so long on this brand, and we have always said Manchester Gin is made in Manchester. If we have to go back to the ultimate humble beginnings and start selling from our house again in order to keep this brand alive, we will, but right now, I don’t know where it’s going to be.
“We want to salvage what we can for this business that we’ve spent 10 years building, in some guise to continue to make Manchester Gin. This isn’t a decision we took lightly. It’s not something we ever envisaged.
“We’ve literally poured every single penny the business has earned to build that site and to walk away from it is heartbreaking. It’s completely uncharted territory for us; we’re trying to navigate it as best we can, and I’m sure we’ll make mistakes along the way.”
Second site’s future uncertain
The distillery also has a second site to the Manchester city-centre distillery and bar, a storage and bottling facility just outside of the city centre. The Spirits Business is waiting for further clarification on the future of the site.
The bar opened in 2019 and hosted gin-tasting experiences alongside operating as a cocktail bar and restaurant.
The distillery produces vodka, rum and gin, with a whisky release earmarked for later this year.
The distillery’s first barrels officially became whisky this month on 5 August, after the first cask was filled three years ago. Whether this will still be released remains to be confirmed.
‘Amazing team’
Heeley also praised his “amazing team” for their commitment over the last six years that had made the venue “feel like our forever home”.
He shared in the LinkedIn post: “If anyone on my network is looking for new recruits I couldn’t speak highly enough of our whole team, please get in touch with me about any openings you may have.
“While this is the end for our experience centre site, Manchester Gin will continue to be made in the city and hopefully enjoyed for years to come. Obviously, this is a difficult time for all of us so please bear with us while we go through this transition. Thank you.”
UK hospitality’s difficult trading environment has come under increased scrutiny in recent years, with the sector suffering 84,000 job losses since the October 2024 budget.
In a survey carried out earlier in the year, nearly half of hospitality business owners in the UK believe they won’t survive 2025.
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