Spirit of Oxford makes bid to bring distillery back
A new spirits venture led by Tom Nicolson is planning to submit a lease bid for the site that was previously home to his former distillery in Oxford, UK.
Nicolson founded The Oxford Artisan Distillery (Toad) in 2017 as the English city’s first distillery, which was known for making gin, vodka and whisky.
Oxford native Nicolson left the business in 2022 after the distillery secured a minority investment from Diageo drinks accelerator Distill Ventures in November that year. The business eventually took full ownership of Toad.
However, Toad stopped operations in May 2024 when Distill Ventures decided to open a distillery in Yorkshire and create a new English rye whisky brand, called Fielden.
Dave Smith, CEO of Fielden, said at the time that the company had “explored options” to stay in Oxford but the site was “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.”
Following the move, Nicolson said the new owners had “broken the promises made to the city” by shifting its operations to Yorkshire. As such, he revealed his plan to keep the site open as a distillery and retain jobs for local people.
Nicolson has formed the Oxford Spirit Co venture, which aims to establish Spirit of Oxford – a ‘multi-purpose social hub and leisure destination’ – on Toad’s former site in Cheney Farm.
The Spirit of Oxford project would include a distillery, restaurant and cocktail bar, alongside meeting facilities for the local community and there are plans to host events, masterclasses and workshops.
The distillery site would return to producing gin and English rye whisky, as well as seasonal spirits like rum and eaux-de-vie.
The venture has gained support from local entrepreneurs and investors.
The new company will submit its bid for the lease to the Oxford City Council on Friday (13 December).
‘Forever distillery’
A spokesperson for the business 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.
“We are fully aware that this is a competitive process, and the decision makers will be looking at all options. We are just thankful that this tender opens the possibility of keeping a distillery at this special site. If we are successful, locals and visitors will enjoy spectacular views of Oxford’s dreaming spires while sampling the very best home-grown spirits and other local delights for many years to come.”
Oxford Spirit Co said it hopes to ‘secure the long-term future’ of spirits production in the city while also developing the community, sustainability, hospitality and tourism potential of Cheney Farm and its neighbouring South Park.
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