The Story of The Cat & Fiddle so far

The curious tale of The Cat & Fiddle…

Once upon a time…
in 1813 to be historically accurate, a local Silk Merchant called John Ryle purchased a plot of land next to a brand new turnpike road.

Upon this plot, he built a beautiful, warm, cosy haven where weary travellers could enjoy a drink and a bite to eat. The weather at this location was often inclement, and Mr Ryle’s Inn soon became a necessary stop when travelling between the towns of Macclesfield and Buxton.

He named his Inn, The Cat & Fiddle (no, we don’t know why either but hey diddle diddle!)

Over the years, the Inn has played a part in many stories. Some personal, some more of international importance (Charles Rolls regularly used it as stop-off whilst testing cars for his fledgling business with a Mr Royce) . However, over the last few decades, like many other pubs, the Inn has struggled to survive as a business. Several factors are to blame, but it’s remote, yet beautiful location certainly hasn’t helped to encourage drinkers to visit and spend time.

In 2015, the Cat died, and a Weasel was born…
As the doors closed at the pub for the last time, a local family began a small business, selling gin which they distilled in their kitchen, using botanicals from the forest below The Cat and Fiddle. They called the product Forest Gin and it generated huge demand from the worlds best bars, hotels and department stores.

The family quickly rented a barn in the forest, employed some local folk and now they daily distil Forest Gin and Forest Whisky whilst singing twee folk songs and wearing Elf costumes (the costume and songs bit is a blatant lie, but if it helps the story, then great).

2019 A conundrum.

The Cat and Fiddle Inn has been owned by the Robinson family for nearly 100 years. The family are passionate about supporting pubs and local communities but, despite having invested huge amounts into the building over the years, each successive landlord has found it harder and harder to operate a successful business there. As a simple pub, the trading figures simply didn’t justify the investment needed. A lot has changed over the last century and after a lot of careful thought and consideration the family reluctantly decided to close the doors of The Cat and Fiddle.

But that was not the end of the story. For 3 years, the Robinson family worked hard to find the right partner, with the right business plan, who could take The Cat and Fiddle into a sustainable and successful future. To do this and reach its full potential, it was clear that The Cat and Fiddle needed to operate as more than a pub.

It just so happened that The Forest Distillery was operating at capacity, and was in urgent need of a space to put barrels of freshly distilled spirit to “sleep” for a few years until it was ready to be enjoyed as English Single Malt Whisky. The Cat and Fiddle just happens to have an extensive network of cellars at 1600 feet above sea level with the most perfect conditions for whisky to mature… coincidence or fate?

What’s Next?
We asked our friends, family, supporters and the local community for help to give this tale a happy ending. This iconic pub needed a major transformation to secure its future, including a new environmentally friendly sewage treatment plant and lots of other major refurbishment works, to breathe life in to this legendary hidden gem. In November 2019, we ran a Crowd funder which raised over £55,000 to assist us and Robinsons Brewery to attempt to re-open the Cat & Fiddle as Britains highest altitude distillery.

And Now!
Renovations are now complete and we are really pleased with all we have achieved. The Cat & Fiddle has finally been restored to its former glory and is now the home of our award winning Forest Gin Distillery and Forest Whisky Distillery. We hold regular tours around the distillery hosted by our experienced and knowledgeable Whisky & Gin weasels which have proven to be very popular. Our little shop has been opened where you can browse our fantastic range of distillery products along with a large variety of locally sourced goods.

We are very proud of what we have achieved with the renovation of the Cat & Fiddle and we hope that we have achieved our initial objectives to house a Whisky Distillery with the finest cellars in the land, create a World-Class tourism site to attract people to our beautiful local area and generate employment opportunities for local people, with the added bonus of attracting investment and more visitors to the wider region.