The best wine bars in London

What makes a perfect wine bar? Well there’s the wine, for starters. Lots of it. The classics and the stuff you want to take photos of. Then there’s the vibe of the place; dimly lit, but fun enough to laugh obnoxiously loudly and not get looks. The music mustn’t be too loud (I don’t like to shout) but definitely not too quiet either. The food should come out on little plates at random times so I feel like I’m in Spain. Half Cut Market is a perfect wine bar. It knows its target market; young and cool, with knowledgeable staff, good tunes, a wine rack labelled with multicoloured fridge magnet letters (‘zippy whites,’ ‘weird whites,’ oranges and more), as well as tables outside for that final glass of chilled red and a ciggie.

After the closure of Peckham’s beloved coffee-and-natty wine spot Larry’s in 2023, a slightly different concept emerged in its place. Bar Levan – sister venue to the area’s go-to bougie Modern European restaurant Levan – is all deep red walls, high stools, and Parisian ambience. The wine selection is constantly changing, and every night there’s a long, esoteric list of by-the-glass choices – everything from English double Pinots to eastern European chilled reds. That means you can try a bit of everything, though the house white, a slightly sweet, accessible Chardonnay, is a highly recommended steal at only £6 per serve. If you’re hungry, there are the obligatory small plates to nibble on: baguette and butter, earthy terrine and languid, oily anchovies, very much in keeping with the French-inspired vibe.

This is what wine bars should be; candle-lit, extremely cute and so cosy you’d be perfectly happing sleeping there overnight if you were accidently locked in. Opened by Michael Sager of Sager + Wilde in a former stables, Bruno boasts big French farmhouse energy. Select orange, red, white, chilled, pink and fizzy wines come by the glass or bottle, with cheery staff more than happy to suggest their faves. A rotating line-up of extremely good chefs also take over the kitchen on a weekly basis, with small menus but absolutely massive flavours. 

Oranj has moved to 2 Dray Walk, E1 6QR.

An ultra-convivial, warehouse wine bar in Shoreditch. Oranj began life as a wine delivery service during lockdown and is well aware that most people don’t know too much about wine, let alone the natural stuff. Its approach, then, is fitting: more pubby than cliquey, with a bottle list for the pros and a short glass list for everyone else (four kinds of orange wine, three white, three red and some bubbles for good measure). You will never feel foolish for not knowing the difference between a gewurztraminer and a grechetto here. Its food pop-ups are also seriously impressive. 

As sister venue to Hackney’s tiny wine bar Binch, Godet can easily be spotted by its peachy-pink exterior and checkered curtains. Not only are the vibes ridiculously cool, with a weekend DJ (at a reasonable volume), Godet collab with some of the best chefs in town (Anna Søgaard, Diarmuid Goodwin) for creative kitchen residencies that complement their small, but mighty selection of reds, whites and oranges. 

The rear restaurant at Noble Rot gets a lot of deserved praise. But the wine bar at the front of the room is a character-filled hangout with covers of the eponymous Noble Rot magazine framed on the walls. The full wine list is an epic tome, but the options by the glass are a joy to read, with wines from Burgundy and the Jura met with more distinctive grapes sourced from lesser-celebrated regions. Anyone for a tipple from Tenerife?

This neighbourhood staple returned with a new name after the closure of the much loved P. Franco in 2023. Coming back better than ever before, this communal table-boasting Clapton spot isn't just a place to score the nattiest of natty wine, but also home to some of the best kitchen takeovers in town. Recent decents include menus by Mangal II man Sertaç Dirik. A forever fave.

Right next door to much-loved London Fields pizza parlour Lardo, Bastardo isn’t your regular wine bar, it’s a fun wine bar. The empahsis here is anti-gatekeeping and not being made to feel silly for not knowing the difference between a beaujolais and a barolo. Inside is cute, but the lovely outdoor terrace, with its potted olive trees and dappled sunlight, is the perfect place to drink away a weekend afternoon. Order yourself some serious snacks (potato salad, fish in tins, prawn cocktail, etc) and bop to a soundtrack of Prince and Marvin Gaye while the excitable owner plies you with fizzy, flirty lambrsuco. Of course, a disco ball is about to be installed.  

Since 1972 the resolutely old school Le Beaujolais has been famed for its selection of French wines and cheeses. The historic restaurant downstairs is a members' only venue but the ground floor bar is open to all. There's a strong 1980s feel here, but it's the perfect semi-hidden destination to sink a reasonably priced Côtes du Rhône from an exclusively French wine list. 

Situated on a quiet little Bayswater backstreet just a few minutes’ walk from Hyde Park, Sol’s is an Iberian-inspired delicatessen and wine bar. Bright, airy and decked out in natural woods, you can score seasonal produce, cheese, charcuterie and pantry provisions to take away, alongside a solid list of low-intervention European wines curated by food writer Mina Holland. These can be enjoyed alongside sandwiches and salads during the daytime, with a simple, seasonal menu Mediterranean-inspired small plates – think gildas, tortillas, pan con tomate and prosciutto di parma – on offer come the evening.

You'll be forgiven for thinking you've stumbled into a chic Parisian bistro when first entering this Camberwell cutie pie. Pop into Veraison Wines to pick up a bottle of something natty to take home, or pull up a chair and settle in for an evening of quaffing and scoffing, with regular supper clubs from local chefs and wine tasting evenings complete with cheese. 

As east London's first urban winery, Renegade has been producing since 2017. Their centre of operations is now in Walthamstow, but you can still visit their Bethnal Green location for bottles, a wine bar and kitchen. Their grapes are brought over from wineries abroad, as well as those in the UK, produced and served at both sites, along with cheese. And while other European producers are available, it'd be a shame not to try the output from these passionate winemakers, especially when it's this good. It’s time you tried a London bacchus.

This wine bar was a bit of a game-changer when it first opened in 2013, and it’s still just as trendy a hangout on the Hackney Road. It broke down the barriers to hard-to-find wines by selling them by the glass without restaurant mark-ups. So sit up at a bar made from pavement lights and let attractive staff fill your glass with wines you’ll never be able to pronounce. Don’t miss their cheese toasties, either.

The lads that do Top Cuvée (the wine bar that pivoted to Covid shop that pivoted to classy Highbury restaurant) also have a cave. And this is it. You get to their Bethnal Green bottle shop, descend some stairs and there you are. It’s giving student kitchen. But in a sexy way. Food-wise you have some plump hotdogs and charcuterie to soak up the booze. You can even slurp down some oysters. But this isn’t somewhere you go to eat actual food, really. It’s a place to hang out, drink wine and chat (crucially, the music, which is good, is played at a non-deafening volume). That kind of pared-back, casual spot that your mates told you didn’t really exist in London. Prove them wrong. Get drunk here.

That moment when the owners of London’s top Spanish restaurant Barrafina say they’re opening a wine bar. Expect semi-bodega vibes across three interconnected, bare-brick arches – even if it’s a little deceptive; the wine list celebrates low-intervention vineyards around the world and from far beyond just the Iberian peninsula. That’s especially true of the by-the-glass selection, where you’ll find wine from Greece, Tenerife and Georgia for starters. 

On the Stokie circular that is Newington Green, you'll find Cadet (pronounced Cad-ay, not Cah-det). It opened in 2022 and only now has the hype has finally died down enough for you to score a table. Though the chalkboard menu of small, delightful French-ish snacks (pate, cheese, rillettes etc) is killer, the wine here – which comes from boutique booze merchants Beattie and Roberts – is unparalleled. 

Peckham Cellars is a must for South of the river drinkers. It mixes a laidback, breezy atmosphere with a formidable wine list, which knowledgeable staff will happily break down for you. Natural wines are a particular speciality, and you'd be mad not to pair them with some of the simple, seasonal dishes this Michelin-accoladed spot does so well.

One entered, never forgotten. Passione Vino is a wine bar and bottle shop that you'll remember forever – unless you sink an ungodly amount of plonk, that is. Run by the charismatic Luca Dusi, this sweet Shoreditch osteria is a place to learn about artisanal wine, stuff yourself silly on small plates of pasta meal and cheese. There's no wine list – just get chatting to the immensely friendly staff, and they'll find the perfect tipple for you. 

When someone says ‘wine bar’, this Covent Garden spot is exactly what you’ll picture – rustic and cosy, a few small, scattered tables topped with tapered candles and surrounded by shelves of wine bottles tagged with brown labels. The focus is on wine by female producers, with biodynamic, natural and organic wine given centre stage. 

Deep in the leafy residential swathes of De Beauvoir Town – aka the St Tropez of Islington – you’ll find Goodbye Horses, a wine bar and small-plates affair. It's a former pub with white-washed brick walls, swirling Marc Chagall-esque scribbles across a vast fabric lighting fixture that runs the length of the bar and sturdy, low wooden tables that you can’t quite cross your legs under. Here the grape is king – especially those of the organic and biodynamic variety. Charming and enthusiastic staff seriously know their stuff, and sample sips and sloshes are dished out when trying to find a wine matched to a guest’s mood and fripperies.