History of the Adams Family | The Barbados Rum Shop

The success of the Adams Family Rum Shop dates back to the middle 1900s, when Cleston’s grandmother built her family business on the philosophy that profits should be fairly earned, employees should be fairly treated, and “heart power is better than horse power.”

More than half a century later, Granny Adams' ideals ring true in the management and administration skills of The Rum Shop’s kin.

Carmen Adams was born and raised in rural Guyana. She decided that she was going to make a better life for herself and chose Barbados as the place to do so. Not just because of it’s beauty but also due to the fact that the Barbadian Dollar was a lot stronger than the Guyanese Dollar, and there were more opportunities there as well.

Grandmother Carmen Adams always promoted safety and care when developing and promoting the family business, where her main thoughts were, “by the people, for the people”, and this notion was continued by Adams’ grandson, Cleston Adams, who succeeded his father, Clifton Adams ( who had initially inherited the shop on his mother’s passing) in both the family business and his grandmother's philanthropic attitude.

Cleston Adams developed, “The Barbados Rum Shop” named interestingly, for his love of Tourism and passion for this beautiful Paradise we call home. He believes that we are letting tourism die and the younger generations are losing sight of True Barbadian heritage and culture so his goal is to revive the bits and pieces that he can. "The Barbados Rum Shop", perhaps not a Barbados Landmark, however, a community landmark, none-the-less.

One that offers sanctuary to locals and tourists alike, where they can submerge themselves in the norms and culture, expected of a Rum Shop, and laugh and drink together. Memories are no strangers to this place.

The ideals of the strong Adams woman, that moved her life and 7 children, have been sustained by one of her sons (who inherited the business), and in turn his son—Carmen Adams’ son, Clifton, ran the company for 20 years through the 1980s, and the family's tradition of community support was continued by Clifton’s son, Cleston. The shop has also gone through a major make-over as Cleston has done quite a bit of refurbishing and rebuilding throughout the past 5 years.

This Rum Shop lead by the Adams clan, has seen three generations of Adams being integral to this family business, starting in 1932 when Grandmother Adams, fled her hometown of Guyana, migrated to Barbados and after some years of careful decisions and tactical saving, decided to build a chattel house structure next to their current abode which then became a local shop for everyone to come.

Today, this family business is headed by the current Owner of A+ Tours & Events, Cleston Adams. As the third generation Adams to lead this successful family company, he has continued his family's legacy of commitment to both the services offered and their community. Cleston's motto, is that not only does he want persons to come to Barbados and just do the normal Tourist activities. No! He wants them to "See, Feel and Touch Barbados!"