Other botanicals include angelica root and liquorice root, as well as the warming finish of anise and hot cloves. As London spread further out and the population swelled, the pleasure gardens – once on the outskirts – found themselves smack in the centre of the city. Palate: Big notes of juniper and sweet orange upfront with a lick of liquorice, more lemon balm and cassia coming in strong in the backdrop.

The tree on the front of the bottle is the baobab tree, which has a fruit with a tart, lemon citrus pulp with a flavour profile not unlike lemon sherbert. We were thinking around 2012-14 that things were going to slow down, but actually, it’s accelerated. You may wonder at the lack of modern-day pleasure gardens in the current capital, but the demise of these public spaces is a tale as old as time in the Big Smoke.Once Johnny had resolved to make a gin honouring his favourite London neighbourhood, he had to face the first, and most serious, hurdle: finding a botanical blend to do the streets of Marylebone justice. Make a day of it and explore busy Oxford Street, visit the museums, or pick up a book from massive Daunt Books before checking out the hotspots listed above. It’s easy to communicate a ‘quince gin’ as opposed to a product like Whitley Neill, which has got nine botanicals, so we created spirits that led with a predominant flavour. It’s currently being distilled at Thames Distillery while we’ve been getting the still into place in the hotel. And then Marylebone is back to slightly more traditional gin distillation, though with a more floral, dry gin flavour and very much looking towards Marylebone Village and keeping it local.

The botanicals are left to steep in wheat grain spirit overnight, and then carefully distilled, with only the best liquid – the ‘heart cut’ – diluted to a whopping 50. There are a number of new distilleries and I suppose we all think ‘gosh, how are they going to get it to market, but if there’s always a story behind the distillery and they’re producing good gin then why not?The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The soothing jazz might lull you into a reverie, but Purl’s standout cocktails will soon shake you out of it. While Marylebone may fly under the radar for some, these are popular places so book ahead to avoid disappointment.