Mon, 22 Sep 2025 | ADMINISTRATION
A Manchester-based drinks business has fallen into administration amid rising costs and other challenges impacting the broader hospitality industry. Drinks of Manchester Limited is a distilling and blending business that has been trading for close to 10 years.
Incorporated in December 2015 by founders Jen and Seb Heeley-Wiggins, the company trades under several brand names, including Manchester Gin and the Spirit of Manchester. The Spirit of Manchester Distillery, which opened in 2019, has a distilling capacity of one million bottles per year.
The company also produced Sphere Vodka and previously operated the now closed Three Little Words cocktail bar and restaurant. In 2021, it began producing One-Eyed Rebel rum, as well as opening a dedicated bottling and storage facility. Earlier this year, it bottled its first whisky brand, One Point Six, following three years of maturation.
However, it has now fallen into administration, with Phil Clark and Dave Clark of Clark Business Recovery appointed as joint administrators last month. Discussing the company's collapse with food and beverage industry publication Food Manufacture, Jen Heeley-Wiggins attributed the business’ position to “spiralling costs and the challenges on hospitality currently”.
She added that it was no longer possible for the business to continue operating in its “huge space”, which was primarily taken up by its cocktail bar, but confirmed that herself and Seb Heeley-Wiggins would continue to produce spirits as a pair.
In accounts for the year to March 31 2024, Drinks of Manchester Limited reported fixed assets of slightly over £900,000 and current assets of close to £700,000, with net assets amounting to approximately £606,000 at the time. During the year, the company employed an average monthly number of staff, including directors, of 45.
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