The historic Town Hall raising a glass with its own gin

It is one of Greater Manchester's most stunning public buildings - and Rochdale Town Hall has now inspired its own gin. Created by Rochdale's own Defiance Gin distillery, bosses believe it's the first time a Town Hall has had its own bespoke gin in the UK.

The bottle reflects the iconic silhouette of the town hall, regarded as one of the finest examples of Victorian Gothic architecture.

The gin was toasted at a launch event this month, and is now available to buy by the glass in the town hall's bars and newly relaunched restaurant The Martlet, as well as full bottles available to buy at the Town Hall gift shop.

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Defiance have also produced two companion spirits that are exclusively for sale at Rochdale Town Hall. They are Peregrine - a spiced rum with a nod to the birds of prey that have made the building their home, and Pioneer - a vodka, inspired by the famous Rochdale Pioneers.

Paul Sheerin is the boss of Defiance Gin, who moved from Oldham to Rochdale earlier this year. Meeting up with Rochdale Town Hall marketing consultant Helen Critchlow would be the spark to create a bespoke range of drinks especially for the recently refurbished building.

Helen said: "We always try to source locally so as soon as I heard about Paul and Defiance Gin I thought can we do something bespoke for the town hall. We had it all sewed up in ten minutes after our first chat!"

"It's exclusive to us and we are the only town hall that we know of that has its own gin. We know of one town hall that has a distillery in the basement, but none with their own branded bottle."

Paul started Defiance Gin in 2017, and since moving back to home turf in Rochdale has added a new Distillery bar that opens on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in the former Spotland Bridge mill building.

His gins have been winning worldwide acclaim, including taking the title of Best in Show in San Francisco as best white spirit for its gin. And it has been particularly fitting for Paul to see his gin in the town hall. He says: "My uncle was mayor last year, Billy Sheerin, and I'm proud as punch of him.

"I’m Rochdale born and bred myself so this whole project has been very special to me."

The stunning town hall, which has featured in a number of films and TV dramas, reopened to the public in March after a four year closure for a £9mn refurbishment.

This week the newly-rebranded The Martlet restaurant will also be offering fine dining menus for the first time at weekends, all part of the upgrade of the town hall to become a destination venue once again.

Supported by Rochdale Town Council, the restaurant is situated on the ground floor of the town hall, which dates back to 1871. The municipal building, which features stained-glass windows and a 190-foot stone clock tower, was once described by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as being a ‘rare picturesque beauty’.

The new town hall spirits are now available to buy in the gift shop, priced at £35 each.