Interview with Nikola Salipur, Founder of NIKO Preston

Interview with Nikola Salipur, Founder of NIKO Preston

NIKO Preston is one of the UK's largest wholesalers of Serbian wines. Could you kindly share with us why did you decide to start this business and how everything began?

Nikola:Everything began in 2019. I moved to the UK and few months after started a company with the primary focus on importing craft beer from Serbia and Croatia. In 2021 we opened a Bar and Shop in Preston and that's when I first started importing wine.

I have been in the wine industry since 2011 and I am very familiar with our wineries. I knew that through persistent work I could achieve success in the UK wine market and put Serbia in top 10 countries in the world, which is where we belong.

As a valuable partner who recently started to collaborate with the Chamber, could you elaborate more on how the BSCC helped secure more opportunities for your business and how do you see this partnership developing further?

Nikola: My collaboration with BSCC started a few months ago. The support has been amazing and the opportunities they have provided for us has made a big difference.

BSCC's connections with other organisations are great and that's what I think will help us the most.

You recently attended the Open Balkan Wine Vision Fair in Belgrade and hosted the Wine Tasting Evening together with the BSCC in the Serbian Embassy in London. Could you kindly share your impression of these events and how they helped NIKO Preston position itself even stronger as the leading distributor of Serbian wines in the UK?

Nikola:The opportunity to promote wines at our Embassy in London definitely helped us a lot and now more people know about Serbian wines in the UK. I'm really pleased we had this opportunity and I look forward to the next Open Balkan Wine event.

Finally, we would like to hear more about your plans for the 2023. Could you elaborate on what are some the biggest projects you will be working on?

Nikola:At the end of February and the beginning of September, we will showcase our wines at SITT in London and Manchester. SITT is a highly recognised wine trade show. We exhibited last year and had very good results and exposure, gaining some big customers.

From May 15-17 we will attend the biggest wine fair in the UK - London Wine Fair with one of the central positions which I know will be huge for our wineries.

Finally, I would like to say a massive thanks to Jadranka. She is the main reason why we have collaborated with the BSCC and also big thanks for Tijana who is very professional and super responsive and of course the rest of the BSCC team.

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