Festival held across the UK has collapsed into liquidation

World Gin Day is just four weeks away but Faringdon-based The Gin To My Tonic will not be marking the occasion this year having closed down.

The Gin To My Tonic was the brainchild of friends and fellow gin drinkers Emira Shepherd and Paul Hudson-Jones, founded in 2017.

But the company, which curates nationwide events spotlighting small-batch distillers and craft spirit producers, fell into trouble late last year and has shut down.

Public accounts show The Gin To My Tonic Ltd has debts of just over £55,000 to settle, with money owed to traders and various councils across the UK.

What’s more, the taxman at HMRC is owed £158,633 from unpaid VAT and PAYE, a statement of affairs says.

According to Drink Edition, warning signs of The Gin To My Tonic’s troubles started in March 2025 when events were cancelled at short notice.

The report says: “Customers complained about poor communication, and distillers reported delayed payments.”

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It adds: “The sudden fall of TGTMT is a hard hit to the UK’s craft drinks scene. It served as a key discovery platform for small distillers and provided a reliable income stream through event-based retail.

“But it also serves as a cautionary tale: in a tough economy, transparency, financial responsibility, and fair trading practices matter more than ever.

“For customers and vendors caught in the aftermath, there’s still hope for recourse – but time is of the essence.”

Andy Samuel of Shipyard Gin told Townhead Farm magazine: “Another story that starts with passion and ends with silence.

“Brands paid thousands of pounds to pour at these festivals.

“Many struggled to even break even, writing it off as a marketing cost, just to be seen, to tell their story, to reach new customers.”

The Gin To My Tonic’s website has been shut down, only referencing the liquidation with a brief statement on its homepage.

Festivals hosted by the Oxfordshire-based business were held in Winchester, Birmingham, Norwich and, in 2019, an event at Oxford Town Hall for World Gin Day.

The Gin To My Tonic organisers prided themselves on their relationships with distilleries and regularly invited a range of established and emerging craft gins to its events.

Emira told the Oxford Mail in 2019: “The Gin To My Tonic has quickly become a trusted and relatable source on all things gin, and with our range of gin-centric events, we continue our love of inspiring gin drinkers in a way that doesn’t come across as stuffy or inaccessible.”