Oxford Wine Company set to open second cafe

By Arabella Mileham

Published: 08 April, 2015

The Oxford Wine Company is launching a second wine café in Oxford.

The new café, which is set to open in August, will be on the corner of Little Clarendon Street and Walton Street in Oxford. The Oxford Wine Company opened its first European-style wine café in 2013, after buying the Summertown wine café.

Managing director Ted Sandbach said the new site, which comprises three shops which have been knocked into one, and a cellar, offered the company the opportunity to build the wine café from scratch, which had not been available before.

"It will be very similar to our existing café, but will be more cutting edge," he told Harpers.co.uk. "We are upping the offering with the new store, with a view to opening more in the future."

He said he was excited about the next stage of development. "If this works, we will look to open more in local towns around Oxford - but it is all about the sites."

The Oxford Wine Company

Ted Sandbach

The new café, which will fit around 100 people, is likely to attract a more eclectic and younger crowd. The café will sell 160 wines by the bottle, with 25 available by the glass, and be open from 8.30 for coffee, until 11pm at night, with a late license at the weekend.

"The average customer at the Summertown café is aged 30-60, but this will be a mixture, as there are lots of industries nearby, as well as student, dons and clerical staff from the university. "The idea is to have music and events as well and try to develop our own style," he said. "There are plenty of bars and eateries locally but no wine bars."

However Sandbach admitted the biggest problem was staffing. "Getting the right quality of staff is the key, as you don't just want casual staff - you need a core of people who know about wines."

"That is the biggest problem of diversifying and expanding," he said.