Our founder was James Sceats 1851-1903, he was a wine and spirit merchant with offices in Bishopsgate London in the 1890s. In 1898 James, with his partner Basil Willis, purchased the Camberwell Distillery of Addington Square Camberwell London. It was here James conceived the recipe that would become El-Bart Gin. 

El-Bart became the best-selling London Gin in the USA across the first half of the 20th century. Operating from the famous Flat Iron Building in New York, El-Bart was the house gin of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and the basis of the world’s most influential cocktail recipe book by Hugo Ensslin of the Wallick Hotel.

Sadly, James passed away in 1903 and he never lived to see the success of his recipe, but the Sceats family reclaimed the recipe and revived the family business.