From international editing to Dorset distilleries: Hugh Lambert’s journey to Shanty Spirit

While Hugh’s always had a passion for the arts, editing and film wasn’t his first introduction to the creative industries. Inspired by his grandfather’s work as an architect and studying at Oxford Brookes for a year, it was after travelling around the world he decided he wanted to study film production at AUB.

“Travelling for 18 months with my girlfriend, we went everywhere – I took the camera and guitar, busking our way through it to make ends meet. She talked about the film course that she'd deferred on to at AUB, and I thought, “That sounds right up my street!” I ended up applying for the same course.”

Hugh’s studies at AUB opened a wave of opportunities. He discovered a passion for editing through projects with Meridian during his studies, hashing together footage and abstract moving image with friends to create music videos: “One of them was just a slinky attached to the lens which we’d do all sorts of crazy effects on! But they paid around £400–500 for each one that successfully made it onto broadcasts, and editing really became my thing.” Shortly after, he was offered a job at a production company in Berwick Street, Soho – landing his first professional role in a cutting room.

While enjoyable, Hugh realised there was more he wanted to see. It was through fascinating projects he edited over the next couple of years – notably a travel show featuring the Maldives – that finally convinced him to make the move.

"I was in this spaceship that I wasn't used to, a dark air-conditioned suite, which is where I started putting together music-based magazine shows. The first thing I ever cut included a Goldie video and an interview with him, and I thought I'd made it. Eventually I was like, “Hang on a minute, I'm definitely in the wrong part of the business!” Having a shooting and editing background from AUB was really valuable, because it made me efficient, and the boss was keen for me to try. Before I knew it, I was on a travel show around the world.”

As his first role behind a camera, Hugh began working on projects internationally, from Peru and Chile to New Zealand on magazine-style travel shows. And when that company went down, he received a job offer from RDF – one of the top 20 biggest production companies in the UK today. Even when Hugh went freelance in 2000, he used his experience to work globally with big names like National Geographic and Discovery.

“I’d be carrying around a couple of passports and VISAs. I did lots of shooting in the States, living in jungles, working with tribes. There was a conservation project called Operation Wallacea that scientists and undergraduates would help at for free, so we’d film them on their journey. I even ended up speaking Indonesian after six months so I could speak to the locals! We were living out on stilted villages off on the coral reefs for a while. It was fascinating.”

Alongside some of his most memorable experiences, there are still some opportunities Hugh wishes he’d said yes to – and some he was glad he hadn’t.

“There's lots of things I did: the moon landings, conspiracy documentaries, met Buzz Aldrin and worked with NASA. Shooting things in the middle of the desert at night outside LA to make it look like the moon. I got offered a to work on a documentary around shamanic medicine VS western medicine, going up the Amazon, and wish I said yes. But also one called Is Cannibalism Still Alive? I'm quite glad I didn't do that!

Becoming a father, Hugh realised he wanted to settle down. Moving back to the UK, he found work in food and drink-based TV with BBC Good Food and Come Dine With Me – “Not the pinnacle of my career, but it was good regular work where I knew what I was doing!” – followed by shooting 360 photography and virtual tours for businesses with a friend. But it was after leaving this company, around 2015, when he came up with the idea that’s developed into what he does today.

“Architecture is a craft. Film is a craft. And there are craft spirits! But really, it was another way to express myself, and an opportunity to build something at home for a change.”

Hugh came up with the idea for Shanty Spirit – a way to rediscover his love for food and drink through using local, Dorset-based ingredients. Despite the distilling process being a new one, Hugh found that finding the best flavours came naturally, inspired by his international knowledge of cultures and flavours, as well as one of his final freelance projects with the late Roger Phillips in Ireland, a world-renowned forager. After tinkering with the concept, the name ‘Shanty’ stuck with Hugh immediately.

“Roger Phillips introduced me to seaweeds with a chef out there at the Ballymaloe Cookery School. I just thought, “Wouldn't that be amazing if we could put that flavour into a vodka, and add coastal dimensions into classic drinks like a Bloody Mary or a Marco?” Or even pairing ginger with seaweed, because those flavours naturally pair like sushi.”

“Shanty has that kind of onomatopoeic quality, with connotations pulling together for a common cause. It's an evocative name, not necessarily from the idea of sea shanties or music, but we do support several RNLI shanty bands and others!”

Since officially launching in 2017 at the Weymouth Seafood Festival, Shanty Spirit is now a well-recognised Dorset brand, having won gold for Taste of the West in 2024 alongside numerous other awards. The distillery is based at Arthur Bray Yard in the heart of Poole Quay, a historic location in its own right, with best sellers including their Seaweed Botanical Vodka and Barrel-Aged Seaweed Spiced Honey Rum, infused with blends of locally sourced seaweed and Dorset honey.

“I've got a deep-seated love of the coast. It’s where I feel most at home, most alive, most at peace. And I think an awful lot of other people feel that way too – it's in our DNA. I discovered that gin is basically flavoured vodka and thought, “In that case, that’s my new blank canvas.”

Shanty’s sustainable approach, Hugh says, is one he wants to continue pursuing, as well as building the brand further through using the latest tech, visually highlighting the aspects of Dorset that have influenced it:

“In an ideal world, we’d like to give more to projects that are involved with cleaning and protecting the seas – getting ourselves B-Corp certified. With my background, I have the opportunity to create lots of content, whether that’s motion control, drone or light work, but it takes a long time to do something like that nicely, so it’s just been social media for now. So that's still something I want to sink my teeth into.”

After such an extensive and wide-reaching career, we asked Hugh for his advice – from working across the TV industries and editing to the entrepreneurship involved with creating Shanty Spirit.

“Based on my journey in TV, it's the 24-7 game. You do the filming, you do the shoot, and afterwards you go out for dinner with the directors and producers – that's where your next job comes from. But things have changed. I remember when I was editing on a four-deck tape machine, I would think, “Wouldn't this be amazing if I could be in any location I fancy cutting a show?”

“Today, you’ve got so much more opportunity to create niche, quality stuff. Our future business model for Shanty is creating high-quality content on YouTube for longevity and then hacking it to pieces for all other social media channels. The attention span is less, but the trust is more.”

“It's incredibly difficult to start to start your own business and no matter what idea you have, without sales, there's no revenue. We brought out one product and there’s so much complexity involved behind that alone. So, it’s about where your thresholds lie – when you're happy with your output, your product, your brand message. It’s a bottomless pit and you’re forever trying to improve it! You've got to do something that you love and don't mind talking about again, and again, and again.”

“But building that something is a lot of fun – and ultimately, getting feedback from people who enjoy what you've created.”