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Nigella Lawson sets up drinks wholesale company with her agent

A Nigella Lawson drinks venture, Bar Nigella Limited, is registered as a wholesaler of wine, beer and spirits, with her agent Alex Fane as a director.

Nigella Lawson, the food writer and broadcaster, has set up a company registered as a wholesaler of wine, beer and spirits, Companies House filings show.
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Nigella Lawson, the food writer and broadcaster, has set up a company registered as a wholesaler of wine, beer and spirits, Companies House filings show.

Bar Nigella Limited was incorporated on 12 March 2026 as a private limited company, according to its entry at Companies House. Its nature of business is recorded under standard industrial classification code 46342, which covers the wholesale of wine, beer, spirits and other alcoholic beverages.

Lawson, 66, is one of two directors. The other is her agent, Alex Fane, 33, who appears on the register as Alexander Michael Fane.

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Both were appointed on the day the company was incorporated, the register shows. Both give a correspondence address at 27 Mortimer Street, London W1T, which is also the company’s registered office.

Fane is a producer who also runs the Henley Festival. He and Lawson have worked together for more than a decade.

Lawson, who appears on The Great British Bake Off, has spoken publicly about her own drinking.

Speaking in 2018, she said: “I’m not very good at alcohol. I’ve never been a big drinker. I do like it. It’s being out of practice.”

She added: “It does something to me, but I think maybe that’s an age thing… after a certain age, you don’t deal with wine as well.

“I feel that I’m quite an anxious person and drink can really exacerbate that anxiety. At first it gets rid of it all. But then afterwards, [there’s] that horrible tight feeling of worry and just generally not feeling quite right.”

Kylie Minogue, Gary Barlow, Graham Norton and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, are among the public figures who have put their names to drinks brands.

Others have taken stakes in drinks companies. In September the American model Kendall Jenner bought a minority stake in Trip, the London-based maker of CBD soft drinks. Trip recorded net revenues of £50.9m in the year to the end of February, a 132 per cent increase on the year before.

In August Sazerac, the US owner of Southern Comfort and BuzzBallz, agreed to buy Au Vodka, the Swansea vodka brand, in a deal that Sky News reported to be worth £500m. Au Vodka’s founders had earlier accepted investment from the DJ Charlie Sloth, whose celebrity contacts brought endorsements for the brand.

Elsewhere in the drinks trade, Tesco is considering an offer for Majestic Wine, Sky News reported last weekend. Majestic, which has more than 210 stores, also has a wholesale business that supplies hundreds of bars and restaurants.

Amy Ingham
About the author

Amy Ingham

Amy Ingham is a reporter at Business Matters, covering UK business news with a focus on breaking news, business policy, late payments and insolvency. She joined the magazine in 2026 after completing the NCTJ Diploma in Journalism at Harlow College's journalism school. Her recent reporting includes British Steel's nationalisation and its impact on SME suppliers, the decline in late payments by large firms, and Insolvency Service director disqualifications. Reach her at aingham@cbmeg.co.uk.

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