THE hangover is going to be huge.

Just when you thought two gin festivals in two weeks might be enough for a city, libation lovers have just announced Oxford’s third in a fortnight.

Nicholson’s pubs, which runs The Eagle and Child, The Crown and The Chequers, is launching a month-long festival of juniper juice this Monday.

The Eagle, already stocks 20 gins as standard, but it and the others will get in an extra stock of weird and wonderful varieties, including a bespoke, barrel-aged Tanqueray created exclusively for the festival.

Nicholson’s has has also promised an ‘action-packed’ programme of masterclasses, gin gigs, gin tours and secret gin parties – if you’re still sober enough to make it to all of those.

The pub chain’s announcement comes after two separate touring gin festivals announced they were both making their first ever visits to Oxford this summer.

Gin Festival Oxford, which is taking over Oxford Town Hall from today until Sunday night, has promised more than 100 varieties of gin and a free souvenir glass.

Gin Festivals UK, meanwhile, will take over Oxford University’s Examination Schools in High Street on Saturday and Sunday, August 5 and 6, and is promising... exactly the same thing.

What’s more, Oxford is about to get it’s own gin distillery in South Park, the brainchild, strangely, of a man called Tom Nicolson, who has nothing to do with the Nicholson’s gin festival.

And as if that wasn’t enough fizzy fun, the UK’s ‘first and only dedicated Prosecco festival’ has announced it, too, is heading for Oxford in February, bringing more than 40 types of Prosecco, Spumante, Cava, Brut, Pink Fizz and even Prosecco cocktails, though it was so popular tickets have already sold out.

Robyn Cuthell, general manager of the Eagle and Child, said the surge in gin’s popularity lay in the fact it was so versatile.

“You get a lot of flavoured gins, Old Tom gins and Navy gins, and because of all the mixers you can get there are so many possible flavours.”

Over the next month, the pub will also be getting in a locally-made Cotswold gin as well as the exclusive Tanqueray, aged in whisky barrels.

If you’re not too sozzled to use your mobile, Nicholson’s have also created a special phone app to help navigate their fizzy festival events.

The only question remaining now is – have we got enough tonic?