Our Story

Back in the 1950’s, my parents ran a small grocery shop in our village in the heart of
Staffordshire. I grew up around this family business, dealing with customers and suppliers from a very early age, understanding and learning from my parents that with passion, shear hard work and
determination, you can achieve anything. It was when I applied to go to Leicester to study Computer Science, at the age of 18, that I started my own business journey. Ironically there was a clerical error with my admission application and I was informed that they did not have a place for me. All the other
courses had started and I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do. I noticed an advertisement in the local paper about a computer games exhibition in Birmingham. When I arrived, I walked up to the first stall I came to and told them I was going to start a shop selling computer games. The guys looked at me, gave me 3 games, wished me luck and off I went!
Those three games went into the window of my parents shop and I sold them all. I bought more
games and they sold to. Eventually I took over my parents shop and ran another computer shop
as well as running a mail order company supplying computer games all over the world.
Miles Better Software grew and grew and we expanded into selling business computers. This
took me to my next business. It involved creating software that developed business solutions for
local companies. This has now grown into an internationally recognised industry leader in its
field.
Having run that business for 20 years, I felt I needed a change. I had spent a large portion of my
business life selling ‘bags of fresh air’ and it was time to start selling something that you could
touch, feel, smell and even taste.
I have always been a whiskey drinker and love the complexity of the different tastes that could
be created from a relatively simple process. It was my wife, Sally, who convinced me that gin
was the better drink because it is clear and had no calories, so I switched!
Again, I was blown away by the range of flavours and even textures that can be created from
this magical process called distilling.
I have spent the last three years researching and learning about this alchemy and it is now time
to launch our next business ‘Hearts Distillery’.
Our aim is to create a range of spirits that are not only simply true to their creation, but also
provide the highest quality available. We will produce our hand crafted spirits using a
combination of artisan skills, a little bit of a modern twist, sheer hard work and determination
and lots of passion.
A business that the whole family can be involved in and most importantly, enjoy and be proud
of.
Rob, Sally, our girls & Fin