A new drink, distilling the spirit of Ulverston’s lupine past, is set to be unleashed on the public.

People will be able to buy Wolftown Gin, developed by resident John McKeown, for the first time at Ulverston Dickensian Festival.

John has been developing the idea for Wolftown for two years.

“I really like the food and drink sector, I love flavour and trying new things,” he said.

“I thought there was a little bit of room in this area for a drinks brand. I don’t just want to do gin, but it’s the quickest way to market spirits wise.”

As well as working on founding the business, John is a professional TV cameraman who regularly works on major sporting events and also runs his own video marketing company.

“There’s obviously a good market for gin,” he said.

“It can be produced in a number of days and it’s appealing to distillers, but the variety and ingredients and flavours of gin has got everybody’s interest.

“There are so many different styles of gin and it lends itself to a bit of experimentation. It’s a really flexible drink. I wanted to try and create something interesting with a local connection with the branding.”

To begin with John is producing a classic London Dry Gin, which will be unveiled at the Dickensian Festival on November 23 and November 24.

John has launched a crowdfunding page with the aim of raising £5,000 by November 19.

Donors will receive a range of rewards including some of 100 founders’ edition bottles of the spirit.

The name of the gin is inspired by the etymology of Ulverston’s name, which is derived from the Norse world ulfarr – meaning wolf warrior – and tun, meaning farm or homestead.

John has worked with local design agency Eclectic, based in Staveley, to produce Wolftown’s distinctive logo and brand.

“I wanted it to be as good as it could be, because the town is the branding really,” he said.

“It’s got a Nordic and Celtic feel to the logo and I wanted to reflect the weight of the history of the town. I wanted to do that justice and do the town justice with a really good gin.”

The gin itself will be distilled outside of the county and John is working on the process of producing, bottling and labelling now.

He hopes if the gin is successful, he may be able to spend more time in Ulverston with wife Helen and his 16-year-old boy and 14-year-old daughter, rather than travelling the world filming.

“Part of the story really is that I live in an amazing town and my bread and butter work takes me away from it,” he said.

“A lot of the reason is to have a change of career and to be around home and enjoy everything Ulverston has to offer.”