New gin festival coming to Banbury this summer

Slurp Wines is inviting G&T lovers to try all sorts of different distillers from near and far outside its shop on Tramway Road for the inaugural event in June.

Live jazz music will entertain visitors while wood-fired sourdough pizzas will fill their stomachs, hopefully in the evening sunshine – a happy thought on these cold, dark nights.

Hannah Lovell from the Banbury store said: “There’s not been a gin festival in the town before as far as we know so we’re really excited about it.

“We want to create a bit of a festival atmosphere and hopefully we’ll have the weather for it, with live music and food so it should be a really fun evening.”

The idea to host a gin festival came from the market’s growing popularity and Slurp’s regular wine-tasting events at Christmas and in the summer.

Local gin producers Cotswold Distillery and Pinnock Distillery from Kineton will be there as well as Foxdenton Gin, Twisting Spirits, Spirit of TOAD, Capreolus Distillery.

The ticket includes four perfectly served gin and tonics which visitors will be able to choose from all of the stalls at the festival.

On the night, food will be freshly prepared by Dough and Brew, purveyors of award-winning soughdough pizzas and swing and jazz trio The Bluebelles will be providing the perfect backdrop.

The festival is from 6.30pm to 9.30pm on Friday, June 21. Tickets are £30 and can be bought at slurp.co.uk/slurp-gin-festival