Gin festival proves a tonic for Wilton Shopping Village
Gin is certainly one beverage having ‘a moment’ just now and last week, Wilton Shopping Village capitalised on this trend by holding its inaugural gin festival.
Bringing together a number of local gin bars and distilleries, the event saw the site’s picturesque courtyard transformed into an outdoor bar.
The offering was strong, with each visitor to the festival receiving a branded goblet, gin bible and goodie bag. They also had the chance to hone their own cocktail-making skills at a number of gin masterclasses running throughout the day.
The packed-to-the-rafters event certainly went down well with visitors. Customers on Facebook commented:
“Brilliant, fun night celebrating my daughter Amber's birthday. We had a wonderful time sampling the lovely variety of gins, yummy food, great entertainment, helpful staff & even a goody bag. Well done all who organised the event. Looking forward to next year's Gin Festival”
“Had a fantastic night! Best gin festival I’ve been to! Yes to next year, but crossing fingers for something else this year??”
“Yes! We have already agreed to do it again for my birthday next year! Brilliant evening! Well thought out, amazing variety of entertainment, lovely food and drink, great little goodie bag, well decorated, happy helpful staff. I can go on! #ginfest2018 - perfect birthday celebrations”
Discussing the event, Wilton Village Shopping’s Marketing Manager, Phil Maclean commented: “Quality food and drink events like this are fantastic for encouraging new visitors to us from outside of our usual catchment, while also providing a vehicle for increasing all important increased dwell time to benefit our retail partners.”
“This event couldn’t have gone any better, with many visitors saying that they definitely couldn’t wait another year for the next one. Certainly, we’ll be looking to replicate the success of this event in the near future.”
Currently, Wilton Shopping Village has two permanent food and drink retailers – the Cobbs Market Café, which provides a changing seasonal menu of tasty home-made, locally sourced and fresh food and The Village Restaurant & Tearoom, a 170-cover venue serving cream teas and a wide selection of meals, soups, sandwiches and home baking.
