The latest chapter in the ongoing saga surrounding one of England’s craft distilleries has recently unfolded in the city of Oxford. A new venture spearheaded by Tom Nicolson aims to bring distilling back to the city and will submit their plans in the coming days.
Nicolson founded Oxford Artisan Distillery in 2017, producing a range of spirits including gin and rye whisky. After securing a minority investment from Diageo drinks accelerator Distill Ventures in November 2022, Nicolson left the business. Distill Ventures eventually took full control of the distillery.
Back in May this year, Distill Ventures chose to close the Oxford site and opened a new distillery in Yorkshire, naming their new whisky Fielden.
At the time, CEO Dave Smith said that the group had “explored options” to stay in the city, but options to expand were “difficult to develop given its physical footprint, location, and the fair and reasonable restrictions imposed by the Oxford Preservation Trust covenants and Oxford City Council’s planning requirements.”
However the move was a betrayal in the eyes of Nicolson, who said the new owners had “broken the promises made to the city.” He vowed to fight in order to keep the distillery open and protect local jobs.
Nicolson went on to form the Oxford Spirit Co, whose ambition is to establish Spirit of Oxford on the site of the former Oxford Artisan Distillery in Cheney Farm. The new distillery will be similar to the previous one in that it will primarily produce rye whisky and gin, alongside seasonal products such as eaux-de-vie.
Spirit of Oxford will be more than just a distillery though; the venture promises to be a ‘multi-purpose social hub and leisure destination’. A restaurant and cocktail bar will be featured, and the local community will benefit from the inclusion of meeting facilities and event spaces.
Having gained the support of local entrepreneurs and investors, the new company will formally submit their bid for the lease on the site to Oxford City Council on Friday 13th December.
A spokesman for Spirit of Oxford said: “We are thrilled that the bid has been launched and are looking forward with great enthusiasm to submitting our proposals…We are grateful to the council for giving us this opportunity to retain a city distillery and hope they will be as excited as we are with our plans to develop it into a major local amenity and visitor attraction. We are committed to Oxford and our business plan has growth built in – this is a forever distillery.”
There’s obviously still some way to go before Spirit of Oxford can achieve their dream of bringing distilling back to Oxford. Hopefully they’re able to launch their plans and settle any ongoing ill feeling between Nicolson and the team behind the now former Oxford distillery.
And, at the end of it all, if it means more new whisky for us to try, we’re not complaining!
