WC - Wine & Charcuterie

The picket fence goes up by 6pm, partioning off a little patch of ground next to Clapham Common’s tube station. The folding tables then fill up in minutes with glass-clinking sybarites, attracting the stares of zipped-up commuters. This former public toilet, integral to the Tube station but derelict for years, is now a wine bar, which turns its tiny outside space into a drinking terrace.

Down the wide stairs it still looks and feels like a Victorian convenience, albeit a sanitised one. The wall tiles and floor mosaics are still there, the cubicle doors have been laid flat and turned into tables within secluded and low-lit booths. Other fixtures and fittings are also reclaimed Victoriana, much of it from a nearby school. It’s cosy and appealing.

A score of wines are sold, from a dry German Riesling to a Bulgarian Merlot. Service is enthusiastic and engaging, and the cheese platters and charcuterie plates are both are better than bog standard.