Peter Charles Spanton is a British former restaurateur and drinks entrepreneur whose career moved from London’s hospitality scene into adult soft drinks and premium mixers. Born in January 1955, he is 71 as of 25 August 2026, according to his Companies House officer record.
He received renewed public attention in 2026 through his long relationship with broadcaster and journalist Janet Street-Porter. Street-Porter announced on Loose Women on 2 February 2026 that the couple had married, with contemporary reporting placing the wedding on 31 January.
Spanton’s own public career predates that attention by decades. He was associated with the Clerkenwell bar and restaurant Vic Naylor’s before developing non-alcoholic drinks aimed at adults who wanted more sophisticated alternatives to conventional soft drinks.
Key takeaways
- Peter Spanton’s documented full name is Peter Charles Spanton, and Companies House records his birth month as January 1955.
- His hospitality career is closely associated with Vic Naylor’s, a Clerkenwell bar and restaurant that opened in 1986.
- He later developed adult soft drinks and premium mixers under his own name, with commercial products documented by 2010–11.
- Janet Street-Porter announced their marriage in February 2026 after a relationship dating to around 1999.
- He is not the Peter Spanton associated with British karate, who was born in 1943 and died in 2020.
Peter Spanton profile summary
| Detail | Verified information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Peter Charles Spanton |
| Born | January 1955 |
| Age | 71 as of 25 August 2026 |
| Nationality | British |
| Career | Former restaurateur and drinks entrepreneur |
| Known for | Vic Naylor’s; Peter Spanton adult soft drinks and premium mixers |
| Spouse | Janet Street-Porter |
| Marriage | Reported wedding on 31 January 2026; publicly announced 2 February 2026 |
From London’s hospitality scene to Vic Naylor’s
Spanton’s career is rooted in restaurants and bars rather than celebrity life. He became closely associated with Vic Naylor’s, a Clerkenwell bar and restaurant that opened in 1986 and formed an important part of his professional identity.
A detailed 2010 interview with The Independent traced Spanton’s earlier work in bars and restaurants and described the transition that eventually led him into drinks development. The significance of Vic Naylor’s is not simply that it was an earlier business: Spanton’s experience in hospitality gave him first-hand exposure to what restaurants and bars offered customers who were not drinking alcohol.
That gap in the market later became the basis of his next venture.
There is also a 2002 statutory notice concerning Vic Naylor Limited that was signed by “P C Spanton, Director.” The notice concerned a creditors’ process involving the company. It does not establish that Spanton personally became bankrupt, nor does it by itself prove when the venue stopped trading. The legal history of a company and the operating history of a venue are not necessarily the same.
The move into adult soft drinks
Spanton’s shift from hospitality into non-alcoholic beverages was tied to his own experience as a non-drinker.
In his 2010 Independent interview, he described finding the available alcohol-free choices for adults unsatisfactory and developing drinks at home after his restaurant years. The concept was not simply another range of conventional fizzy drinks. He was trying to create products with enough complexity to feel appropriate in bars, restaurants and other settings where adults might otherwise choose alcohol.
That idea remained central to the way he discussed the business years later. In a 2019 interview with Morning Advertiser, Spanton again linked his work to the limited choice available to people who were not drinking alcohol and to the growth of more sophisticated alcohol-free options.
The transition provides the clearest through-line in his career. His hospitality experience showed him how the drinks market worked; his own change in drinking habits gave him a reason to approach that market differently.
Building the Peter Spanton drinks range
The history of Spanton’s drinks business does not fit neatly into a single launch date.
Peter Spanton-branded beverages were already being documented publicly by 2010. In February 2011, The Caterer reported on the range, including drinks numbered 3, 4, 5 and 7.
Later trade coverage described 2012 as the launch year of his premium-mixer range. That date makes sense when applied specifically to the mixer phase of the business, but it should not be treated as the beginning of all of Spanton’s beverage activity because earlier products were already in circulation.
The corporate record adds another layer. Peter Spanton Limited was incorporated in May 2008. A separate company that later became Peter Spanton Drinks Ltd was incorporated on 30 July 2014 under the name Box to Box Entertainment Ltd. Spanton became a director in February 2015, and the company adopted the Peter Spanton Drinks name shortly afterwards.
For that reason, descriptions stating simply that “Peter Spanton Drinks was founded in 2014” flatten a more complicated chronology. The commercial products and the later legal company were not created at the same moment.
Recognition for the mixer range
Spanton’s drinks received external recognition during the later years of the business.
Official SIP Awards results show that in 2017 No9 Cardamom Tonic and No3 Dry Ginger received Silver awards, while No13 Salted Paloma received Bronze. In 2018, No9 Cardamom Tonic received a Double Gold, No3 Dry Ginger won Silver and No13 Salted Paloma received Bronze.
Those results are useful because they provide independent evidence that the products were being judged and recognized within the wider drinks market rather than relying only on brand promotion.
They also show that Spanton’s range remained commercially visible years after its earliest documented products appeared.
The end of Peter Spanton Drinks Ltd
The registered company Peter Spanton Drinks Ltd is no longer active.
According to the Companies House insolvency record, creditors’ voluntary liquidation began on 25 June 2020. The company was dissolved on 26 July 2022.
That corporate outcome should not be confused with Spanton’s personal finances. A creditors’ voluntary liquidation concerns a company and does not, by itself, establish personal bankruptcy, personal debt or an individual’s net worth.
The existence of old product pages, retailer listings or archived brand material also does not prove that the same registered company continues to trade. The official company record shows that Peter Spanton Drinks Ltd was dissolved in 2022.
A long relationship with Janet Street-Porter
Spanton’s relationship with Janet Street-Porter became his main source of wider public attention outside the hospitality and drinks industries.
In July 2025, Street-Porter told The Guardian that she and Spanton had been together for 26 years. That places the start of their relationship at around 1999, although the available evidence does not establish an exact date or a verified account of how they first met.
Their relationship changed publicly in early 2026. On 2 February, Street-Porter announced on Loose Women that they had married. Contemporary coverage of the announcement said the pair had known one another for 27 years, while reporting placed the wedding on Saturday, 31 January 2026.
The 26-year description from July 2025 and the 27-year figure used around the wedding are consistent as rounded accounts of a relationship beginning around 1999. They should not be used to manufacture a more precise anniversary.
As of 25 August 2026, the documented public record used for this profile contained no later credible report indicating a change in their marital status.
The namesake that causes confusion
Peter Charles Spanton is sometimes confused online with another British man who had the same first and last name.
The other Peter Spanton was a prominent karate instructor, founder of Higashi Karate Kai and a 9th Dan. The Higashi Karate Kai biography gives his lifespan as 1943–2020.
Those details do not belong to the restaurateur and drinks entrepreneur profiled here, whose Companies House record gives a birth date of January 1955 and who married Janet Street-Porter in 2026.
The distinction matters because search results can otherwise produce a fundamentally incorrect biography by combining the two men’s careers and life dates.
Current status
Spanton’s most clearly documented current relevance is his marriage to Street-Porter rather than a new commercial venture.
The records and reporting available through 25 August 2026 do not establish a current operating business or a new professional title for him. Describing him as a former restaurateur and drinks entrepreneur therefore reflects what is securely documented without suggesting that his earlier companies remain active.
Other details commonly found in celebrity-style profiles are not well established in reliable sources. His exact birthday, birthplace, education, current residence and personal wealth should not be guessed or reconstructed from weak biography sites or company paperwork.
What is firmly documented is enough to give his career a coherent shape: a long period in London’s hospitality business, followed by an attempt to create better adult non-alcoholic drinks, and later public recognition through a decades-long relationship that became a marriage in 2026.
Conclusion
Peter Spanton’s public biography is strongest when it stays close to that career arc. His work at Vic Naylor’s placed him inside London’s restaurant and bar culture, while his later move into adult soft drinks turned his own experience as a non-drinker into a commercial idea that anticipated growing interest in more sophisticated alcohol-free choices.
The renewed attention around his marriage to Janet Street-Porter has made his name more widely searched, but it has also exposed errors and namesake confusion. Peter Charles Spanton, born in January 1955, is the former restaurateur and drinks entrepreneur described here—not the late karate pioneer who shared his name.
