Swoon Gelato Celebrates a Decade on College Green with a Gold Card Giveaway

The UK's most decorated dessert producer marks ten years of artisan gelato in Bristol with an exclusive anniversary competition.

Award-winning artisan gelato brand Swoon is celebrating a landmark milestone this spring: ten years since it first opened its doors on College Green in the heart of Bristol. 

To mark a decade of handcrafted gelato, the brand is launching a once-in-a-generation competition, giving one lucky winner a Gold Card entitling them to free gelato for an entire year.

Founded in 2016 by Bruno Forte, whose Italian family introduced handmade gelato to Great Britain over 120 years ago, Swoon began its journey at 31a College Green, Bristol, with a simple but unwavering belief: that every life is made a little better by gelato. 

Ten years on, that belief has been rewarded with in excess of 100 Great Taste stars, a Supreme Champion title at the Great Taste Awards 2019, and a loyal following that stretches far beyond Bristol.

“College Green is where it all began. My Italian family introduced handmade gelato to the UK over a hundred years ago, and when we opened on College Green ten years ago, we were bringing that tradition home in a new way. 

"Every scoop we've served there has been made with the same love and the same belief in quality that drives everything we do. Reaching ten years feels extraordinary, and we wanted to celebrate with the community that made it possible.” Bruno Forte, Founder, Swoon Gelato told That's Food and Drink.

Swoon remains very much a family affair. Bruno's wife Ana Maria leads the brand's marketing and digital strategy, while co-founder Pat Powell,  Bruno's sister, is the creative force behind the brand's instantly recognisable chic black-and-white aesthetic, overseeing everything from shop design to packaging. 

Guiding the business through its next phase of growth is CEO Simon Blagden, one of the most experienced operators in the UK hospitality industry. Simon was previously operations director at PizzaExpress before joining Jamie Oliver's restaurant group, where he headed the celebrity chef's restaurant business from its launch in 2008, overseeing the full breadth of Oliver's hospitality businesses, from the charity restaurant Fifteen to his high-street restaurant empire. 

His depth of experience in scaling quality food brands makes him a natural fit to lead Swoon into its next decade.

To mark the anniversary, Swoon will hold a private gathering at College Green on Thursday 30th April 2026, a celebration of the people, the craft and the community that have been central to the brand's journey. As part of the festivities, Swoon will be running a special anniversary competition: one winner will receive a Swoon Gold Card, granting them free gelato at any Swoon bar for a full year. Full details of how to enter will be announced via Swoon's social channels in the lead-up to the event.

The College Green bar, the brand's spiritual home, remains open seven days a week, from 10am until 10pm.

The anniversary comes at a moment of significant momentum for the brand. Swoon has also recently opened its sixth location, at 79a Parchment Street in Winchester, continuing its expansion across southern England. The brand now operates bars in Bristol, Bath, Oxford, Winchester, and a permanent concession within Selfridges Foodhall on London's Oxford Street, with further openings planned.

Throughout its ten years, Swoon has remained steadfastly committed to the principles it was founded on: provenance, craft, and the very best ingredients, among them Somerset milk and Sicilian pistachios from the renowned Bronte growing region. All gelato recipes are developed exclusively for Swoon by Bologna-based gelato maestro Stefano Tarquinio of the Gelato University.

From a single gelato bar on College Green to the UK's most decorated dessert producer, the first decade has been quite a ride. The next one is already underway.

Key Anniversary Facts

Anniversary private gathering: Thursday 30th April 2026, College Green, Bristol

Anniversary competition: Win a Swoon Gold Card — free gelato for one year

College Green opening hours: 10am–10pm, 7 days a week

Address: 31a College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TB

Website: www.swoononaspoon.co.uk

English Whisky’s Goldilocks Moment. And Why Bristol Is Bottling It Beautifully

For years, whisky conversations in Britain have tended to begin and end north of the border.

 Scotland had the headlines, the heritage, and the tourists buying tartan-labelled bottles at airports.

But quietly, and rather stylishly, England has been getting on with making some seriously good whisky of its own.

And right now, according to Bristol’s Circumstance Distillery, English whisky is sitting in a perfect little “Goldilocks Zone”.

Not too young. Not too established. Just right.

Founded in 2018 in Bristol’s industrial heartland, Circumstance Distillery has built its name on a simple but clever idea: flavour first, rules second.

Unlike Scotch, which has centuries of tradition and enough regulations to make your head spin faster than a cask-strength dram, English whisky still has room to play. Yes, it must still meet the legal basics — grain-based, matured for at least three years in wooden casks, and bottled at 40% ABV or above — but beyond that, the playground is wide open.

Founder Liam Hirt puts it brilliantly.

England, he says, has enough maturity for spirits to be genuinely good, but the industry is still young enough to stay experimental. In short: “the conditions are just right.”

Think less “we’ve always done it this way” and more “what happens if we try this?”

At Circumstance, that means working with malted and unmalted barley, rye, wheat, unusual yeast strains, and cask experiments that would probably make a traditionalist on Islay reach for the smelling salts.

The result? Whisky with personality.

Their Organic Single Grain Wheat Whisky is affectionately described as a “breakfast whisky” which sounds alarming until you realise it means soft, elegant, and dangerously easy to drink. With pastry notes, butterscotch, creamy texture and a gentle bready sweetness, it works beautifully neat or as a highball with soda and lemon.

Frankly, if your breakfast is stressful enough, I’m not here to judge.

Then there’s the gloriously chaotic Cask Blend Whisky, created from leftover new make spirit from different mash bills throughout the year. Instead of treating that as a problem, they embraced the uncertainty and filled a cask with it.

Whisky by happy accident? Very British.

Their Estate Whisky, meanwhile, is the house signature, layered with vanilla, citrus, stone fruit and spice, and even picked up a Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Add in organic certification, local grain sourcing, spent grain returned to nearby farms, and a genuinely sustainable ethos, and it becomes clear this is not whisky pretending to be Scotch.

It’s whisky confidently being English.

And honestly, about time too.

https://www.circumstancedistillery.com/store

Winchester Gelato Lovers Are Swooning For Swoon Gelatos

Swoon, the Bristol-founded artisan gelato brand built on over a century of Italian-heritage craft, opened its newest bar at 79a Parchment Street, Winchester, on Friday, 20th March 2026. 

The opening marks the latest step in the brand's expansion beyond its South West heartland and into high-footfall, quality-conscious city-centre locations.

Founded in 2016 by Bruno Forte, whose family introduced handmade gelato to Great Britain over 120 years ago, Swoon is a true family affair. 

Bruno's wife Ana Maria leads the brand's marketing and social strategy, while co-founder Pat Powell, the creative force behind Swoon's instantly recognisable chic black-and-white aesthetic, oversees every visual element, from packaging to shop design. 

The brand now operates gelato bars in Bristol, Bath, Oxford and has a permanent concession within Selfridges Foodhall on London's Oxford Street. 

Winchester becomes the sixth location, and the brand has publicly signalled plans for further openings across the south of England.

Swoon is a premium brand with a proven track record, having accumulated over 100 Great Taste stars, more than any other dessert producer in the UK. 

It was crowned Supreme Champion at the Great Taste Awards 2019 for its Hazelnut Gelato, the first gelato producer ever to achieve that distinction. 

Its Bacio Hazelnut & Chocolate gelato was named Vegan Product of the Year at the Great British Food Awards in 2022, reflecting the brand's responsiveness to evolving consumer preferences. 

That commitment to quality runs through every ingredient; for example, Swoon sources its milk from Somerset farms and its pistachios from the renowned growing region of Bronte in Sicily.

Each bar serves handmade scooped gelato alongside a speciality dessert menu that includes gelato cakes, 'Swoondaes', ricotta-filled cannoli, Sicilian brioche, milkshakes, fruit smoothies, and Italian coffee sourced from Naples. 

A minimum of four vegan flavours are available at all times. All gelato recipes are developed by Bologna-based gelato expert Stefano Tarquinio, head of the Gelato University, who holds exclusive rights to supply his recipes in Great Britain through Swoon. 

The Winchester bar will also be available on Deliveroo.

Beyond its branded bars, Swoon has a growing retail and wholesale footprint. Its 500ml tubs are stocked in farm shops across the south west of England, and the brand has established partnerships with hospitality operators including Bosco Pizzerias. 

A wholesale offer is also available to trade partners looking to bring Swoon's award-winning gelato to their own customers. 

Production is centralised from the brand's purpose-built kitchen facility in Bristol, providing the scalable infrastructure to support continued growth. 

Swoon also operates a customer loyalty scheme across its bars, reflecting the brand's focus on building lasting relationships with the communities it serves.

Bruno Forte told That's Food and Drink: “My Italian family introduced handmade gelato to the UK over a hundred years ago, and Swoon is very much a family business with my wife, mother and sister all involved. 

"That family history and love of gelato drives everything we do, it's why we focus so much on provenance and using only the best and purest ingredients in the flavours we craft.

“Winchester is a city we've had our eye on for a long time. It's a beautiful, historic place with a real appreciation for quality and craftsmanship, the values that sit at the heart of what we do at Swoon.”

To learn more about Swoon visit https://www.swoononaspoon.co.uk.

If you wish to discuss stocking their products visit https://www.swoononaspoon.co.uk/wholesale

Circumstance Distillery Crowns Winner of Its First Bristol Bartender Cocktail Competition

The innovative competition invited bartenders working across Bristol's bars and restaurants to create an original cocktail using spirits from the Circumstance portfolio, highlighting both the distillery's experimental approach to flavour and the city's vibrant, independent bar culture.

Following a live final held at the distillery, Ben Wilson of The Milk Thistle was crowned the inaugural Circumstance Cocktail Champion.

Wilson's cocktail drew inspiration from Bristol's independent food and drink heritage while showcasing the whisky's complex flavour.

He told That's Food and Drink: “In essence, I wanted the drink to capture the essence of Circumstance and Bristol. 

"To me, it embodied the typical ethos of both the city and the distillery, being go against the status quo, and own it. 

"Using iconic Bristol brands like Ribena, Fry's chocolate and Harvey's Wine Merchants, the honey, coffee, floral, biscuity notes of the Circumstance Rye shine through a flurry of blackcurrant and chocolate, obviously. Circumstance whisky is awesome and my drink is really tasty.”

Founded by distiller Liam Hirt, Circumstance Distillery has built a reputation for pushing the boundaries of English whisky through experimental fermentation, organic grains and flavour-led production.

Speaking about the competition, Hirt said the goal was to highlight the creativity of Bristol's bartending community.

“Bristol has an incredible hospitality scene full of passionate and creative bartenders. This competition was about celebrating the people who bring our spirits to life behind the bar and showcasing the talent that makes this city's bar culture so special.”

By focusing exclusively on local bartenders, the competition underscores Circumstance Distillery's commitment to supporting Bristol's independent hospitality community and strengthening the city's reputation as a hub for craft drinks and innovative cocktail culture.

SHIP SHAPE, BY BEN WILSON, THE MILK THISTLE

45ml Circumstance Rye

25ml Ribena Gastrique

15ml Double Cream Sherry

Garnish: Rye cracker with blackcurrant conserve

Ribena Gastrique:

·         200g Ribena Concentrate

·         80g Red Wine Vinegar

·         100g Caster Sugar

·         Pinch of salt

Combine all in a saucepan and reduce gently until homogenous and thickened slightly.

Double Cream Sherry:

·         2 bars of Fry's Chocolate Cream

·         Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry (Solera)

·         Optional: Full fat milk

Melt the chocolate in a Bain Marie, adding a splash of milk if the consistency is a little too thick and gooey.

Once melted and homogenous, weigh the amount of chocolate and add 4x that amount in sherry (i.e. 75g chocolate = 300g sherry)

Mix well and refrigerate overnight.

Once chocolate is solid, filter mixture through coffee filters.

https://www.circumstancedistillery.com

https://milkthistlebristol.com