If you’re looking for a great wine bar in London…
…vino all the best places.
We’re talking impossibly beautiful hidden bars in glamorous hotels; crepuscular caverns lit only by candlelight; urban wineries; converted stables; and classic Parisian bistros with fondue and firesides.
No point putting a cork in it: here’s our pick of London’s best wine bars.
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PS: This list was growing so long… we’ve plonked the natural wine bars over here.
Noble Rot | Bloomsbury
What started out as a magazine set up by friends Mark Andrew and Dan Keeling to quench their long-term love of wine has taken concrete shape in the form of a couple of real-life wine bars across London. The Bloomsbury restaurant is well-worth checking out – an expertly curated menu of ‘Franglais’ small plates from award-winning chefs Stephen Harris (The Sportsman) and Paul Weaver (St. John) awaits. But if you’re just in the mood for a glass and a couple of snacks, snag a walk-in table at the wine bar, drenched in ambience thanks to the dark woods, candlelight and roaring fire.
The wine list here is long. There are four pages dedicated to sweet & fortified wines alone. But if you’re serious – or even just remotely curious – about wines, there’s no better place to get stuck into your research. The staff are friendly, wise, and ready to guide you whether you’re looking at a £22 or a £7,297 bottle.
Details: 51 Lamb’s Conduit Street, WC1N 3NB | Walk-in only, or book for the restaurant
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Veraison Wines | Camberwell
Feeding into Camberwell’s low-key growth as a budding food and drink force (joining the likes of Forza Win and The Camberwell Arms), Veraison is the sort of wine hideout that wouldn’t look out of place in a town in the Loire Valley, thanks to its wood-accented interior and library-like shelves stacked with artfully-designed bottles of mostly small-scale wines. Turn up on Thursday evenings for weekly tastings (at £30 a pop) and leave a scholar on subjects like orange wine (or as you’ll soon find out, skin contact whites), while there’s moreish raclette toasties to nibble on if you get hungry.
Details: 78 Camberwell Church Street, SE5 8QZ | Book via [email protected]
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Sager + Wilde | Hackney
Low-lit, artfully dilapidated and unspeakably romantic. You’ll find this wine bar perched on the corner of Hackney Road where – returning home from a stint in California, and no longer able to get their hands on their favourite wines – Michael Sager and Charlotte Wilde decided to set up shop, bringing their favourite grapes from the golden state to London. Alongside a selection of simple small plates, they offer a daily-changing wine menu with options both by the bottle and the glass.
Details: 193 Hackney Road, E2 8JL | Make a reservation at Sager + Wilde
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Passione Vino | Shoreditch
Passione Vino is a bottle shop-cum-wine bar stacked with hundreds of low-intervention wines from Italian producers, all hand-picked by grape fanatic Luca Dusi. It is not a place for control freaks. Here, you must surrender to the deep, boundless knowledge of the team who, in place of a menu, will bring you a glass of whatever feels right for you. It could be poured from a double magnum, it could be something you’d never pick out off the shelf – but it will be delicious.
Details: 85 Leonard St, London EC2A 4QS | Make a reservation at Passione Vino
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Gordon’s Wine Bar | Embankment
One of the oldest and best wine bars in London, a historic cavern where Rudyard Kipling ventured to swill Sancerre. You’ll find it off a side street by the river, where you’ll enter into a small network of candle-lit tunnels filled with dark wooden tables and chairs. And plenty of wine. Cheese, of course, is a given (if it ain’t broke don’t fix it). In fact, there are over twenty cheeses to choose from, all of which are served with fresh bread, butter, and pickles; as well as a number of other picky dishes; tapas in the evening; and a surprisingly good Sunday roast.
Details: 47 Villiers St, WC2N 6NE | No bookings
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10 Cases | Covent Garden
Justin De Souza
Looking for a great, laid back, Central London wine bar? These guys are on the case. It’s a small, bistro-esque space in Covent Garden – think slowly whirring ceiling fans, chequered floor, and blackboards with chalked-up menus – which only serves ten reds and ten whites at a time. They buy them by the case and serve them until they’re gone, before going out and buying different ones. Which means not only do you get to avoid a ten page wine list (as well as the anxiety that comes with trying to pretend you understand it all), you can also keep coming back without getting bored. Every bottle is also available by the glass, and they’re not too spenny either.
Details: 16 Endell Street, WC2H 9BD | Make a reservation at The 10 Cases
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Bruno | Victoria Park
In terms of its size, Michael Sager’s latest wine bar is hardly a magnum… but when it comes to atmosphere & style, it’s the whole cellar. Bruno is a teeny little converted stable round the corner from Victoria Park – and frankly, you’d be hard pressed to find a lovelier place to hole up after a long walk. Rustic stuccoed walls and a crackly vinyl soundtrack gives the place a homely atmosphere, while a handful of tables spill outside in warmer weather. The selection here is guided by Michael’s own personal connections, bought direct from small-scale growers alongside picks from his own cellar.
Details: 211a Victoria Park Road, London E9 7JN | No bookings
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Binch | London Fields
Just as the Inuit have over 50 words for snow, the French have over 50 words for wine, and binch is one of them. It’s a cosy little neighbourhood bar by London Fields run by one enthusiastic Frenchman, who’s combined his passion for both small-producer wines and offbeat craft beers into one packed-out little spot. It doubles as a bottle shop, so if the weather’s decent you can always take something to go and enjoy en plein air…
Details: 51 Greenwood Road, London, E8 1NT | No bookings
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The Red Room | Mayfair
The glamorous Connaught Hotel has an amazing Champagne bar, with a nice list of vintage bottles and Champagne cocktails. But it’s what you’ll discover behind the velvet curtain that’s of most importance to us today, because this is The Red Room: a beautiful, marble-clad wine bar with a mere thirty thousand bottles in the cellar…
Details: The Connaught Hotel, Carlos Place, W1K 2AL | No bookings
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The Mulwray | Chinatown
Hidden away above The Blue Posts pub in Chinatown, The Mulwray is a richly decorated wine bar dressed with sophisticated touches like velvet booths, shimmering brass details… and an entire backlit wall of wine displayed in bespoke cabinetry. Everything here hails from a sustainable or bio-dynamic vineyard, and the staff are supremely knowledgeable – leave your order in their hands and they’re bound to bring over something interesting. They’ve also gotten themselves a Coravin system, which allows you to explore rare bottles by the glass instead.
Address: Upstairs, 28 Rupert Street, W1D 6DJ | Make a reservation at The Mulwray
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Diogenes the Dog | Elephant & Castle
Diogenes was an ancient Greek philosopher who lived in a barrel. And Sunny Hodge’s South London wine bar has some pretty interesting things in barrels, too, focussing on bringing lesser-known wines to the fore. 40% of the bottles are imported directly from producers, and cover a good range of red, white, orange, fortified and dessert wines. Plus, there’s terrines, toasties, and a ‘boozy cheeseboard’ to snack on, to the dulcet tones of live jazz or performing poets.
PS: Turns out, Sunny’s philosophy works. His follow-up wine bar, Aspen & Meursault, is a lovely Battersea spot offering a brilliant selection of natural wines.
Details: 96 Rodney Road, SE17 1BG | Make a reservation at Diogenes The Dog
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Humble Grape | Across London
The Humble Grape bars were established when wine was still a bit of an old boys’ club, taking the radical approach of creating laid-back environments where easy-going staff will tell you everything you’ve ever wanted to know about wine (but were too afraid to ask). Of course, if you’re already sure about the kind of thing you’re after, they’ll happily just point you towards a glass or bottle amongst their 400-odd on sale, most of which are from relatively unknown vineyards around the world.
Should you get peckish they have a variety of snacks, small plates, and big plates, as well as charcuterie and cheese boards. They also offer a number of fun, laid-back wine-tastings, as well as weekly offers. There’s Retail Monday where you can pick any bottle of wine and pay take-away prices whilst enjoying it in; live music Wednesdays; and Icon Wine Thursday and Fridays, where you can drink all of the best wines usually sold in bottles, by the glass, and lots of it. What can we say: one of the best wine bars in London.
Details: Across London | Make a reservation at Humble Grape
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Bar Du Champagne | Covent Garden
Wine bars are good, but Champagne bars have one up on all of them. And Bar Du Champagne is, believe it or not, a Champagne bar. You’ll find it on Henrietta Street, in a space that feels warm and inviting thanks to the wooden furnishings, the terracotta hued walls, and the vintage style chandeliers which bathe the place in a soft glow. On the the menu, the bottles lean towards organic & biodynamic estates, with just over a dozen sparkling varietals making their discriminating cut. Complimenting that, the food menu is quite lovely, including a beautiful roasted cauliflower with brown butter glaze & preserved lemon gremolata; some sizeable grilled prawns in a Champagne beurre blanc; and an elegant Champagne tiramisu.
Details: 24 Henrietta St, WC2E 8ND | Make a reservation at Bar Du Champagne
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Bottle & Rye | Brixton
Addressing this first: a £5 wine happy hour, Tuesday to Saturday (5-6.30pm). In terms of cost-effective classy wine drinking, you can’t do much better in London. Found at the entrance of Brixton Market, Bottle & Rye is the work of Robin Gill and his wife Sarah, who are behind some of London’s most esteemed establishments including Sorella and Darby’s). Here they’ve turned to France for inspiration, styling the place out like a Parisian wine bar, and trusting old pal Lewis Wright (who’s been in charge of the wine at multiple Gill restaurants) to compile the largely low-intervention-leaning list. The place frequently hosts some of the city’s most exciting chefs for kitchen residencies, too.
Details: 404-406 Market Row, SW9 8LD | Make a reservation at Bottle & Rye, or walk in
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Clarette | Marylebone
It’s a French wine bar and restaurant brought to you in part by Alexandra Petit, whose family runs the renowned French wine estate Château Margaux. Once a Scottish pub, Clarette still bears a mock Tudor frontage, cosy firesides and Scottish coats of arms in its stained glass windows. However, everything else has been beautifully modernised with bright blue banquette seating and vibrant artwork splashed across the walls. There are three floors in total, but wherever you end up, you’ll have access to the same highly curated, worldwide wine list boasting a number of fine wines both by the bottle and the glass. They also offer an all-day menu of French food: snacks, smaller plates, larger plates, and dessert.
Details: 44 Blandford Street, W1U 7HS | Make a reservation at Clarette
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Bottles | Spitalfields
Bottles is lined up along the edge of Old Spitalfields Market, where a white-washed courtyard fitted with pillow-lined benches, rustic wooden tables and overhead heaters evokes the feeling of holidaying somewhere warm. Inside is a little more industrial in style. It’s set over two floors, both of which have a big central communal table with distressed leather stools and filament lights hanging overhead.
The focus at this wine bar is on independent producers and small growers, but that doesn’t make for a small list – they still have over 180 labels on offer. The food comes courtesy of Sood Kitchen, who are not only lovely but also incredibly talented chefs, cooking up a zero-waste menu of delicious Italian fare.
Details: 67 Brushfield Street, E1 6AA | Make a reservation at Bottles
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Bambi | London Fields
The past was Bright, the future’s… Bambi. The much-missed London Fields restaurant has been reincarnated as a wine bar by James Dye (one of the guys behind Frank’s in Peckham). And he’s filled the place with low-intervention wines, stellar small plates from an ex-Peckham Cellars chef, and a shedload of vinyl…
Details: 1 Westgate Street, E8 3RL | Make a reservation at Bambi
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The Winemakers Club | Farringdon
Housed in the Victorian archways below Holborn Viaduct, The Winemakers Club originally served as a wine cellar for merchants like Oddbin’s for over 150 years – until John Baum realised he could cut out the middleman, light a few candles and transform the place into a moody, subterranean wine bar and bottle shop. For just £12 corkage, John will happily help you pick out a suitable bottle of wine – whether that’s something cheap and cheerful, or something a little older and rarer from his own private collection – and ply you with locally-sourced cheeses and charcuterie to match.
Address: 41a Farringdon Street, EC4A 4AN | Book via [email protected]
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Renegade Urban Winery | Bethnal Green & Walthamstow
Renegade is an urban winery with a mission to create great, small-batch wines here in London, using the finest grapes from Europe and the UK. And also to get a dog. Their wine bar, tucked away in a Bethnal Green railway arch, is super-cosy – but the winery in Walthamstow is where the magic happens. You can book in a tour if you’d like to see the enormous fermentation tanks, which is followed by a guided tasting. The rest of the place feels more like a taproom than wine bar (it is set along the Blackhorse Beer Mile, after all), with regular live music, cracking Sunday roasts, and a relaxed, bunting-strewn space that’s open to dogs, babies, and groups of wine-swilling locals.
Details: 7 Lockwood Way, London E17 5RB | Make a reservation at Renegade
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WC Clapham | Clapham
Reasons why you should visit a wine bar in a converted Edwardian public toilet: 1) The owners are partial to some word play: WC = Wine And Charcuterie; 2) It’s underground, and beautifully designed, featuring romantic booths fashioned out of the original cubicles; 3) They offer a simple but delicious food menu, including baked Camembert with garlic, rosemary & toasted sourdough; 4) Their wine menu is small, which definitely feels less intimidating. It’s also constantly changing in case you fancy this being your new lifetime haunt; 5) They have live gigs with up-and-coming acts every Sunday and Monday; during which 6) you can politely self-induce a cheese and wine coma if any of them are are bad.
Details: Clapham Common South Side, SW4 7AA | Make a reservation at WC
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Provisions Wine & Cheese | Highbury & Hackney
By day, it’s an excellent bottle shop where the shelves are stacked with hand-picked vino from small, low-intervention growers. But as the end of the week beckons, it stays open after hours as a cosy, intimate wine bar where you can sample some of the team’s favourites by the glass, or pick whatever you fancy off the shelves for a corkage fee. Providing a little ballast to the booze are sharing boards laden with the shop’s produce, from French cheese to Italian charcuterie.
Details: 167 Holloway Road, Islington, N7 8LX | Make a reservation at Provisions
Want to bone up on vino? Book into one of London’s best wine tastings