Dragon’s Den Duo pick up New Years Honour
Dragons Den backed spirits producers Liam Manton and Mark Smallwood, the founders of Alderman’s Drinks which owns and operates the premium spirits brands Didsbury Gin and ARLU Rum (distributed in the UK by C&C Group) are amongst the 1,000 people honoured as part of King Charles’ first ever new years honours list.
The pair have been recognised with Medal of the Order of the British Empire (BEM) in the 2023 New Year Honours List for ‘Services to the community during Covid-19’ where they immediately switched production to hand sanitiser, producing the equivalent of 2.8 million bottles for every public service in the region, including hospitals, police and transport services.
The pair also:
• Sourced and donated 15,000 face masks to care providers
• Donated a further 20,000 units of hand sanitiser to those caring for the regions most vulnerable people
• Sent 1,000 cups of tea to those volunteering in the community at the time
Liam Manton said:
“We’re absolutely thrilled to pick up this honour. Growing up in inner city Manchester you never dream of things like this. It’s imperative that businesses are a force for good and give back to the communities in which they operate. It was amazing to see the reaction of all the front line workers when we rocked up and saved the day – they’re the real heroes here!’
Mark Smallwood added:
“Supporting our beloved NHS was a no-brainer and I’m just happy we could be of help. We were able to mobilise quickly and plug what could have been a catastrophic supply chain gap”
