Ted Sandbach talks about his new venture The Oxford Wine Cafe Jericho

The Oxford Wine Company was a local wine shop, retailer and wine merchants, but when we heard the Summertown Wine Cafe had closed we decided to add another string to our bow.

Although lacking experience in this field it was the synergy existing between the three businesses that attracted me, or vertical integration as they call it in the industry, After a quick revamp we opened the Oxford Wine Cafe in April 2013 and it was an immediate success, attracting those wanting to congregate over a carefully selected wine in a Reidel glass, and I wondered then if it was something we should develop further.

It did not take long to find the next ideal premises in Jericho.

Once we had secured the site where Little Clarendon Street meets Walton Street, we set about redesigning the space out of four concrete walls and an inaccessible basement.

We wanted the new cafe to be a stimulating and vibrant addition to the area and the Oxford Wine Cafe Jericho is now open from 8.30am until late and has been beautifully decorated to include some unusual features including a glass window to the cellar below and a wall made up of over 1,500 champagne bottles. It looks amazing Since opening we have exceeded all of our expectations and wish we’d done it before. There have been a few issues and the odd flood, the dishwasher leaked and the coffee machine broke, but the customer response has been really positive and the takings even better.

We offer 150 wines, 25 by the glass and food-wise we do platters of meat, fish, cheese or veggie, but not hot dishes. We didn’t want to bother with chefs and kitchens. The deli boards enhance the experience without detracting from it.

Before we opened up a few people said we would need bouncers and I replied ‘over my dead body’ Instead we get lots of women in here, and while I don’t want to appear sexist, it seems they feel safe and comfortable here, which of course means that the men then follow.

People come here after work and the busy, vibrant mix is exactly what we wanted. It’s also amazingly civilised. We have a guy from Le Manoir running the wine side and my son George is the manager. The Jericho site is more cutting edge than the Summertown Wine Cafe just because we had to adapt it, while here we started from scratch.

We had to be quite creative to fill the Jericho space and our interior designer came up with some great ideas. Having done it before, we think we have got it right so it has been enormously satisfying watching everyone enjoying themselves.

Although we are exhausted and sweaty I think we will open another one. It’s all about the right site at this stage but we’d like to open a third Oxford Wine Cafe in Oxford city centre, something we will tackle in the New Year.

So yes it will be a mini chain but it’s important that we don’t lose sight of the character of the wine cafes.