The Lakes Distillery, a Cumbrian-based whisky distiller, has secured a GBP4.25 million investment from Comhar Capital, to support its ambitious growth plans.With its investment Comhar Capital has acquired a minority share in the business. The funding will support The Lakes’ ongoing capital investment programme and continued growth in maturing whisky stocks as the business begins to develop internationally.
The Lakes Distillery (The Lakes) was established close to Bassenthwaite Lake in 2011 under the leadership of Nigel Mills and Paul Currie.
The Lakes’ whisky-maker, Dhavall Gandhi, joined the business in 2015 from The Macallan and is developing a strong reputation across the market for The Lakes sherry-led house style. The business already boasts a collection of award-winning whisky, gin and vodka spirits, that can now be found at a number of leading online and high street retailers, including Ocado, Co-op, and Next.
Comhar’s investment will be used to support further investment in the The Lakes Setmurthy distillery and visitor centre and will see production capacity tripled to more than one million bottles per annum.
This is the fourth investment from Leeds-based Comhar (pronounced ‘core’) which was established in 2018 by Neil Armstrong and Craig Wilkinson. The company, named after the Gaelic word for ‘partnership’ has been established as an independent direct capital investment business targeting SMEs run by forward-thinking, growth orientated managers. Wilkinson will join the Board of The Lakes Distillery.
