Halewood Artisanal Spirits has insisted there has been no change in strategy or approach at the owner of Whitley Neill gin, Aber Falls whisky and Dead Man’s Fingers rum, despite sweeping changes at board level.
Halewood’s long-term chair Judy Halewood and company director Ian Douglas are no longer listed as persons with significant control of the business, filings at Companies House last month show. Both Halewood and Dougles have sat on the board of Halewood Artisanal Spirits since 2011.
Meanwhile, Charles Hainsworth and Stewart Hainsworth are now listed as directors. Stewart Hainsworth has been CEO at Halewood since 2015, while details of Charles Hainsworth’s involvement are not currently known.
Halewood has also changed its name of its holding company to Charlie Stewart Spirits, while a new limited company called Charlie Stewart Spirits UK was also incorporated in July, based at Halewood’s address in Rushden, Northamptonshire.
Charlie Stewart Spirits UK lists “distilling, rectifying and blending of spirits”, as the nature of its business.
Halewood remained tight-lipped when approached for comment on the changes.
“Judy Halewood and Ian Douglas have stepped back and retired from active management of the company,” a spokesman for the business said. “There is no change to the name Halewood Artisanal Spirits (UK) Limited and we continue to trade under this name.
“There is no change to the overall strategy of focusing on growing our range of spirits brands, especially in the gin, whisky and rum categories.”
The changes come after Halewood offloaded its Crabbie’s ginger beer brand to drinks wholesaler Brookfield Drinks last month, citing the move as part of its “spirits-focused artisanal brand strategy”.
In March, the business sold its JJ gin and vodka brand to Polish drinks supplier United Beverages Group.
In the year ended 28 June 2025, turnover at Halewood fell by £12.2m (9.6%) to £115.6m, driven by the winding down of third-party whisky manufacturing and lower sales volumes of Crabbie’s ginger beer overseas.
The average number of employees at Halewood fell by 42% from 390 on 29 June 2024 to 225 by the end of last June, with the business admitting cost cutting measures had resulted in redundancies in the UK business.
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