Down a backstreet in Salford, just under the railway lines, is not the first place you’d expect to discover a rum distillery. But the founders of the Dirty Old Town Distillery have just set up shop here in a railway arch near Blackfriars which will double as both their HQ, rum laboratory and, in time, a bar too.
Tommy Gaughan and James Harrison met at school in Leigh, and after seeing a gap in the market, launched their first product in 2018, a spiced rum under the brand The Salford Rum Company. And despite a pandemic in the middle, the pair had their best year yet last year, selling a staggering 30,000 bottles in the UK, while their rum is now stocked in both Co-op and Morrisons stores too.
