Ian McCulloch began as a sales assistant in the advertising department at London Weekend Television (LWT) in 1980 and rose through the ranks to become the commercial director of ITV. He left the channel in 2007 and started Silent Pool Distillers, a brand of premium gin sold in Waitrose and Marks & Spencer. The distillery, on the Duke of Northumberland’s estate in the Surrey Hills, produces a range of gins, a rye grain vodka and will soon add a whisky to its portfolio. Ian, 61, lives with his partner, Alison, and their young son, Fred, in his Surrey birthplace. He has two daughters, Maise and Florence, from his first marriage.
How much is in your wallet?
£20. It’s a folded note that has been there for months. If you are older it would worry you about the way it’s going with cash, but I think cashless is great so long as you know not to overspend.
What credit cards do you use?
I don’t use credit cards because I’m not one for mad interest rates. I’ve got a Coutts Charge Card and pay everything off. As a teenager in the late Seventies I had a NatWest account, and about ten years later while at LWT, they [NatWest] invited me to move over to Coutts, which they own. Coutts are really good. I’ve had occasions when I’ve done something out the ordinary with my card and they’ll contact me to ask if I’d made those transactions. Their computer always seems to pick these things up very well.
Are you a saver or a spender?
A bit of both. I have a savings buffer and then I spend everything else. Low interest rates have made my savings look very dull. With savings you’ve got to get your money working for you and with low interest rates that’s difficult. Rates of half a per cent and less right now are hopeless. That said, I’m not constantly saving, because life is too short.
How much did you earn last year?
Covid-19 had a massive impact on us. We had to lay people off in mid-March, then furlough staff and wait until the market picked up. I never thought it would go on this long. We quickly switched to making hand sanitiser with the gin waste, which is a by-product of gin production. This has a high alcohol content, it’s fragrant and we gave it away with our gin products, and still do. But last year our online business went absolutely crazy and retail sales went up at off-licences, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer. Although our brands are at a price point where they might be considered a luxury — the gin sells for £39.50 at Waitrose — they’re not an unaffordable luxury. Luckily for our business, people drink when they are sad and when they are happy, which is handy.
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Have you ever been really hard up?
No. I’ve always worked and had that work ethic. As a 15-year-old I had two newspaper rounds, and by the time I was 18 I’d worked in shops such as British Home Stores, followed by a job valeting Jaguar and Land Rover cars. Then I joined LWT in the sales department. I cannot sit by doing nothing. I always believed I had to be better at what I did and that you got well paid for being better at what you do.
Do you own a property?
I have a five-bedroom home in a residential street in Surrey and we moved here in 2007. It faces southwest so it gets the sun, and it backs on to woodland. I can do the seven-mile journey from my home to the distillery across the countryside almost without using a road. I’ve always lived in Surrey apart from a couple of years at ITV when I lived in the West End.
Are you better off than your parents?
Yes. My dad, who is 85, was a marketing director of Pan Am and lives in America, where he’s got a nice house surrounded by woodland. I was lucky enough to get in on the UK property boom, but the same thing hasn’t happened in America with property values.
Do you invest in shares?
Not since the LWT management share scheme 25 years ago. This was an incentive to the core management to drive the business as hard as we could and make it as valuable as possible. In return we were invited to buy shares in LWT at a discount price. I invested more than a year’s salary. The shares increased and by the time I cashed them in they’d gone up by ten times their original value. I don’t remember how much, but it was a payout beyond my wildest dreams. Now I avoid the stock market, aside from my pension, because there doesn’t seem to any logic to it.
What’s better for retirement — property or pension?
Pension. I was lucky enough to join the ITV pension scheme at the right time, so I grabbed it. I’m not a landlord because it seems like a headache to me. I’ve got friends who’ve rented out properties, and who’ve told me of the problems they’ve had with local planning restrictions and rules, so it’s not for me.
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What’s the most extravagant thing you’ve bought?
My convertible Ferrari F355. I bought it for £103,000 in 1998 as an investment. I remember opening my garage doors and seeing this gleaming red car. There was something magical about it. Sadly it didn’t work out as an investment and I sold it a few years later for £80,000.
What’s your money weakness?
Cars and motorbikes. I began buying Japanese motorbikes in my formative years and I now have a couple of 1970s two-stroke bikes. I drive an American supercharged Dodge Challenger, which isn’t very sensible as its carbon footprint is the size of Wales, but it’s fun to drive.
What is your financial priority?
To see that my family is secure, that I’ve covered everything, and then enjoy the rest of it.
What would you do if you won the lottery?
I used to do the lottery, but I never won anything so I stopped. But if I had the money I’d travel more. One thing this whole pandemic has done is to show us the value of what it means to get away. A holiday to Greece or going to see my dad in America is what I really want to do now. Normally I wouldn’t think about holidays, but when they’re taken away from you, and it has been more than a year, you want them all the more.
Do you support any charities?
I’ve been a member of the National Trust since the late Seventies. I support the Royal National Lifeboat Institute because I used to do a lot of jet-skiing, boating and sailing. They were always there for you when you were in danger or did something stupid. At Silent Pool Distillers we have our local charity, Cherry Trees, which does fantastic work for children and young adults who have learning, physical and mental disabilities. The charity gives them short-break respite care and we support them as much as we can. We have donated the garden we sponsored at Chelsea with water features that calms these young people and keeps their anxieties low.
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What is the most important lesson you have learnt about money?
Money on its own is useless. It’s what it enables you to do and the choices it enables you to make. It also doesn’t buy you happiness. I admire people such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett who give away huge amounts of their money because they can see the good that it does. You arrive with nothing and you depart with nothing — it’s what you do with your money in the in-between gap that matters.
