Gin distillery turns production to hand sanitiser to help NHS

To support the NHS during these difficult times, a gin distillery in Manchester, UK, has temporarily turned production over from gin to hand sanitiser.  

Manchester Gin’s distillery – The Spirit of Manchester is supplying this hand sanitiser to the NHS Nightingale Hospital North West, which is one of the new UK hospitals set up to help cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Like all frontline services nationwide, the NHS Nightingale North West struggled to source hand sanitiser amid a huge shortage across the country. Manchester Gin made the decision to dedicate its 1,000-litre copper still, Wonder Wend, to producing the sanitiser, and has already delivered 200 bottles ahead of the hospital’s opening.

With Wonder Wend working constantly to meet demand, Manchester Gin has produced the sanitiser at cost. However, Manchester Gin co-founders and Master Distillers, Seb Heeley and Jen Wiggins, have pledged to continue to support the NHS Nightingale North West through its lifespan.

“It was a no brainer when Manchester Central asked us to support the NHS Nightingale by producing sanitiser. We’re grateful to be able to play a small part in the tremendous effort that’s being made to get the country through this,” Heeley said.

The duo are also encouraging other frontline businesses in the north west to reach out should they be in need of the essential product. Frontline services and charities can contact [email protected] to order sanitiser or for more information. The Spirit of Manchester Distillery will provide sanitiser directly to these businesses to ensure that the product gets to the places in which it is most needed. Due to this, it will currently not be available for the public to order on an individual basis.

In the face of a bottle and pump shortage, the distillery is also asking businesses to order bulk containers where possible, and only order as many individual bottles as necessary, with a view to refill all bottles rather than order new.