I own NIKO Wine Bar in Preston and we want to educate people with our TikTok series ‘Fine dining for f*** all’

This Preston wine bar is not only the biggest importer of Serbian wine in the county but they are trying to change the British culture of drinking wine.

Nikola Salipur came to Preston from Belgrade five years ago but has been working in the wine business since 2011.

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When he arrived in Lancashire, Nikola only had a licence to supply businesses and restaurants with the wines he had brought over from Serbia.

Following Covid, he decided to start selling products directly to customers before deciding to open NIKO, a bar that offers both exotic wines and craft beers located on Guildhall Street in Preston.

Serbia has a long history of producing wine yet many people may be unaware of the delicious wines that the country makes and NIKO is trying to change this.

Nikola said: “Right now we work with 11 wineries and we are the biggest importer of Serbian wine in the UK.

“It’s definitely our unique selling point as you get people coming in wanting to taste something they have never tried before or people who didn't even know that Serbia produced wine.”

Over that last few weeks, NIKO have been running a TikTok series called ‘Fine dining for f*** all’ where Nikolas sits down with respected sommeliers and chefs to show that you don’t have to spend tons to eat a fancy meal.

As well as serving as some unique and entertaining marketing material for the wine bar, the series tries to educate people about eating well for less as well as what wines pair with certain foods.

The series sets NIKO apart from other wine bars as not only is it trying to establish a social media presence, yet it is trying to make wine more accessible to those who may not be knowledgeable when it comes to the drink.

Nikola said: “One day we were thinking of creative ways to promote Serbian wines and we just decided to spend a fiver on some tinned fish and bread and stick it on TikTok.

“It was very off the cuff but once we realised we could start telling people what wines pair with what foods we realised it would be good to put on social media.

“We want people to realise you don’t need to spend loads of money to have a fine dining experience paired with a good wine!”

Along with trying to make wine more accessible and trying to tell people they should enjoy whatever they are willing to pay for, NIKO are also wanting to change British culture when it comes to drinking wine.

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They see it as a casual activity where people can meet up and chat over just one or two glasses of wine

Sam, an employee at NIKO said: “I’ve worked in the wine industry for years and even lived abroad and unfortunately in the UK, we don’t have a wine culture like they do elsewhere.

“People don’t sit out in the middle of the day or after work, get a quick bite to eat along with a glass of wine so the more casual, responsible approach is definitely something we are promoting.”

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