Bombay Sapphire Distillery

The worst distillery experience I have been too. The guide was absolutely rude and treating people like we were like children at school. You can’t touch anything, Or you can’t ask any question, it’s like we were in the army ! Outside you have to keep the mask even when they give you ( you pay for it) the cocktail you have to keep your mask on. I was not happy at all, I was very stressed and didn’t enjoy my afternoon at all. I was exhausted and very uncomfortable. The guide was rude with my friend who is 65 years old, i couldn’t believe people can’t talk like that to an old lady, so the duty manager came and was also rude and took off our drink without asking. I never seen people so disrespectful. The manager arrived after that and apologised but didn’t know what to do! Not even saying he will have a meeting with his staff about their awful behaviour.
I don’t recommend this distillery at all! You have lot of other distillery lot better and more fun ! You can’t even go inside the distillery, because of the covid, but you have to pay the full amount ! Which is unfair. You don’t see anything interesting and it’s a waste of time.

The Distillery occupies a lovely old building in an attractive location, but unfortunately the outside was all I got to see. There was a private event on at the time and the building was closed to public access despite there being no mention at all of this on the website that I specifically checked before making the journey. The website said it was open at that date and time for people to look around some parts (I was aware that full tours needed to be booked in advance.) The lady that told me it was closed was also not very friendly really or apparently sorry about it. They need to make sure the website is correct about when the site is open to ensure people don’t make wasted journeys.

The positives:

The staff were knowledgeable and doing the best they could.

The cocktails: as they were delicious.

The less positive;

You don’t really get to see anything. Because of Covid you aren’t allowed inside the distillery, so you only really get a brief background to the buildings, history of the brand and the botanicals used. The email confirmation you receive tells you not to wear heeled or open toed shoes otherwise you can’t do the Still House section of the tour; turns out you can’t do it anyway

Face coverings: absolutely, safety first, but there’s face coverings for safety purposes and there’s being obtuse. You have to wear a face covering throughout the tour. Absolutely; completely understood and supported. When we arrived we were told we absolutely could not wear our own face covering and had to wear a disposable one which was supplied. Strongly disagree with excessive disposable PPE usage when reusable face coverings are available. When asked why, there was no answer, just told to wear the disposable provided.
At the end of the ‘tour’ we sat outside (at least 5 metres from the nearest person ) for a cocktail (delicious as mentioned). We took our disposable face coverings off and were immediately told to put them back on.
When we questioned why we were told ‘this is Bacardi not the government’. Meanwhile a couple on another table sat without theirs on the entire time.

Disappointed, and if I were you I’d spend your money elsewhere.

We attended having booked the self guided tour.
Unfortunately we visited on a very stormy day, meaning it was hammering down with rain. This meant that we could not listen to the majority of the talk points as they are located outside and have no form of covering. This made our tour very short and with no real information gained.
The glass house were nice but small. The smelling room was fun and at times pungent! Dont be fooled your selection of smells does not get analysed to give you your our designed cocktail. You have to choose from the back of the card!
The still house with tour guide was very good.
And the cocktail I selected 'sugar and spice' was delicious.

I accessed this venue via Virgin experience days as my good lady is a Gin fanatic. We had the guided tour and our tour guide Louise was knowledgeable and good fun. She made what could be seen to be a pretty mundane procedure (making of gin) into a fun experience. The tactile spice room was a revelation to us and very educational.
This is a working distillery so there are steps and cobbles and plants but these add to the mystique of the brand.
Finished off with a free drink in the bar which was in itself enlightening (wasn’t aware you could make so many cocktails based on flavoured gin!), we decided to have lunch in the cafe before driving home. All the facilities here are very good and clearly showing visitors around their distillery is a pleasure for them. All staff very courteous and helpful and we really enjoyed the whole experience! Definitely recommend it if you like Gin.

Just spent the day with a couple of friends at the Bombay Sapphire distillery. It was fantastic. The guide for our tour, Louise, was well informed and very humorous with her commentary and she educated and entertained in equal measure. The cafe, bar and shop were a joy and every member of staff we encountered was helpful and well informed.

We had a brilliant time, the buildings and surrounding area where beautiful. The tour was very informative and our tour guide, Louise brought the tour to life, she was extremely entertaining and funny. Highly recommend a visit

The distillery is based in some very attractive old buildings with a magnificent modern glasshouse added to highlight the plants used in the botanicals in the gin. However you really don’t see much of the actual process and the audio guide is just 6 speakers dotted around the site with short recorded commentaries. The room where you can smell the botanicals and mark a card with your preferences is quite fun, the card then indicates the type of cocktail you are likely to like and can sample in the Mill Bar.
A pleasant experience but I feel it’s quite expensive for what you get.

My wife and I took part in one of the virtual distillery tours and gin tasting.

It was brilliantly done from start to finish! The communication was excellent via email with zoom links etc and our parcel with all the miniatures and ingredients arrived well on time.

The event itself was very slick and well run with a mixture of a live tour, a pre-recorded section and a live gin tasting and cocktail making. The guides were friendly and knowledgeable.

We thoroughly enjoyed the hour experience and would highly recommend it to anyone.

Love it here, we only live down the road so have been here quite a few times however I am particularly impressed with the measures they’ve put in place for Covid19. Temperatures checked on entry, hand sanitiser everywhere, masks provided and overall felt very safe. The tour (due to coronavirus) is now guided and I felt that I learnt more than I had done previously on the self-guided route. Overall, it’s a lovely place to look around - especially if you’re a gin fan. It’s always nice to visit on a sunny day and explore. My only criticism is that on my previous visits, I’ve been able to buy more cocktails at the bar afterwards - however this has been changed due to Covid (understandable but is a shame as it’s a nice place to sit and have a few drinks in the afternoon sun). Thank you to everyone there and keeping us safe x