London Wine Fair has announced the launch of ‘Signature Serve’ in 2025, placing spirits at the heart of this year ’s event.
PREMIUM SPIRITS and mixers take centre-stage at London Wine Fair in 2025, and the show will tap into rising interest from its audience of top-end, UK-based spirits buyers and distributors across the onand off-trade, whether it be leading cocktail bars, independent retailers or multiple grocers.
With the crossover between wine and spirits continuing to grow, London Wine Fair is widening its focus to adapt to the changing landscape of the UK market. More than 2,000 decision makers working in spirits are already attending the fair, and, according to its organisers, these patrons – of which roughly 40% are ontrade visitors and 26% off-trade visitors – are currently under-serviced in terms of spirits exhibitors.
“The creation of Signature Serve has come about to fulfil demand from our visitors,” says Hannah Tovey, head of London Wine Fair. “With this increasing crossover of wine and spirits in buying roles, we could see a real appetite for bringing back a serious contingent of spirits in 2025 and beyond.”
In 2024, 41% of the show’s on-trade visitors were spirits buyers, an indication of the huge potential and efficiency that sharing focus between wine and spirits can have for exhibitors and visitors alike.
BIG-NAME BUYERS
Big names among trade visitors included Caprice Holdings; Harrods; 28-50 Restaurant Group; Cliveden House; and Rare Restaurants. From the off-trade, 26% of visitors were responsible for buying spirits, covering retailers such as Harrods; Waitrose; The Whisky Exchange; Majestic; Tesco; Loki Wines; and The Co-op.
“The demand for spirits to be a significant part of the show is there, and we are dedicated to delivering a carefully curated, very premium space with high-end content to meet the expectations of the UK’s key decision makers,” Tovey says.
The show’s organisers have capped the Signature Serve exhibitor number at 25 for year one, with some of the biggest and most innovative players in the UK spirits scene due to showcase their products this May. The organisers have added two heavyweight ambassadors to the Signature Serve team: drinks and hospitality stalwart Millie Milliken and Liam Davy, spirits buyer and head of bars for the Hawksmoor Group. London Wine Fair ’s latest new feature reflects the show’s commitment to adapt to the changing drinks industry. As Tovey puts it: “Signature Serve will ensure that London Wine Fair is unmissable for serious spirits buyers from the UK and beyond, and will bring an additional sense of theatre to next year ’s show.”
LWF returning features
The Icon Tasting: On the back of the success of last year ’s ground-breaking Judgement of London tasting, the 2025 show will host another Icon Tasting in a similar blind tasting format, with the UK’s leading palates participating, as well wines from the world’s best producers and a noteworthy theme. Details will be announced in February. Wine Buyers Awards 2025: Launched in 2020, the ceremony this year will debut the Sustainable Buyer awards category, reflecting how environmental impact is a vital consideration and responsibility across all professional wine buying areas. The shortlist will be announced at the London Wine Fair preview party on 25 February. Winners will be announced on Centre Stage on Tuesday 20 May.
Hosted Buyer Programme and Concierge Service: Set to transform the ways in which top buyers source, connect and make strategic purchasing decisions, these two features are returning in 2025. The inperson concierge service sees a team of experts personally facilitate meetings between exhibitors and the UK’s top 50 buyers. The service sits alongside an intuitive matchmaking algorithm, which continuously suggests relevant matches for business meetings which appear on the digital dashboard of each exhibitor and visitor.
The 2025 London Wine Fair will take place at Olympia, London, on 19-21 May.
