Salcombe DistillingCo

Howard Davies and Angus Lugsdin met teaching sailing in Salcombe and set their distillery in a boathouse on Island Street, in among the boatbuilders — one of the few distilleries anywhere directly reachable by boat, with a bar upstairs pouring Salcombe and tonics over the estuary. The company formed in 2014 and the flagship Start Point gin launched in 2016; the Gin School, the first in the South West of England, opened the year after, and a Rum School has since joined it, both ending with a bottle you blended yourself. The business remains founder-controlled, with a small crowdfunded shareholder base on board since 2019. Tours with tutored tastings run through the week.