Craft Gin Club founders Jon Hulme and John Burke are recipients of the Service Industries Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Great British Entrepreneur Awards 2021. They have been named one of the 2021 Regional Winners and everyone here at Craft Gin Club HQ is gleaming with pride. We can’t wait to celebrate with Jon and John over a G&T or two!

The prestigious award joins a number of other industry awards in Jon and John’s trophy cabinet, including the Food & Drink Heroes People’s Choice Award, which is voted for by the public - we must be doing something right here at the club!

Craft Gin Club co-founders Jon Hulme and John Burke — Craft Gin Club co-founders Jon Hulme (left) and John Burke (right).

Craft Gin Club co-founder Jon Hulme had this to say about winning the award:

“It’s such an honour to be recognised by the Great British Entrepreneur Awards in this way, especially among so many fantastic entrepreneurs.

We’d just like to thank the amazing teams behind everything we do at Craft Gin Club along with the ever-growing family of craft distillers we get to work with each month. And, of course, thank you to Craft Gin Club’s wonderful members for their continued support.”

— Jon Hulme, co-founder of Craft Gin Club

In partnership with Starling Bank, the ceremony was held at Grosvenor House in London on 22 November and saw 159 entrepreneurs across the UK recognised for their entrepreneurial stories and achievements over the last year.

What are the Great British Entrepreneur Awards?

The Great British Entrepreneur Awards launched in 2012 to celebrate the best of British enterprise, inviting founders from across the UK to apply with their entrepreneurial success stories.

This year, after having to hold the awards virtually in 2020, the organisers brought together all eight of their regional shortlists for the first time, with a guest list of 1,200 entrepreneurs, judges, mentors, investors and partners invited to the London celebration.

Over the last decade, the Awards has celebrated some household names including Julie Deane OBE of Cambridge Satchel Co, Alan and Juliet Barratt of Grenade and Shaun Pulfrey of Tangle Teezer. Its most recent headline-grabbing success story is its previous winner, and speaker at this year's event, Steven Bartlett, who in May was announced as the youngest ever Dragon on BBC’s Dragons Den. (A show Jon and John are no strangers to themselves!)

The awards were judged by a panel of industry experts and leaders of influential UK businesses, including some of the prize winners from previous years.

Francesca James, founder of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards, spoke highly of the entrepreneurial talent coming out of this year’s cohort:

“It was fantastic to hear so many inspiring business stories after a difficult few years, and even better to have been able to invite all of our finalists to the in-person ceremony and celebrate together.”

— Francesca James, founder of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards

Read all about Jon and John’s appearance on the BBC television show, Dragon’s Den, right here!