There is no good guide to London wine bars, and we know that because we went looking for one before writing this. What the search returns is a booking directory filtered to Fenchurch Street, another filtered to south London, and four forum threads. Nobody has written the page.
Part of the reason is that “wine bar” now covers five completely different rooms, and a list that mixes them is useless. A Victorian cellar with no bookings and a self-pour machine room are both accurate answers and they are not remotely the same evening.
So this is sorted by what you actually want, and every rule below was read off the bar’s own website. Several of those rules are strict, one bar contradicts itself, and two of them close the kitchen far earlier than the door.
The rule that catches people out
At most of these, the bar and the restaurant are different businesses with different rules, and the bar is the part you cannot book.
Noble Rot is the clearest case. It has three London sites and only one of them has a wine bar at all. If you turn up at the Soho address wanting a glass and a snack you will be offered a full dinner, because that is all that room does.
The serious list
Noble Rot, Lamb’s Conduit Street
A wine magazine that opened restaurants, on the best small street in Bloomsbury, and the only one of its three rooms with a proper bar attached.
Noble Rot Lamb’s Conduit
- Address
- 51 Lamb’s Conduit Street, WC1N 3NB
- Nearest
- Russell Square or Holborn
- Booking
- The restaurant takes bookings on 020 7242 8963 or lambsconduit@noblerot.co.uk. The wine bar and terrace are walk in only and cannot be booked
- Price
- Corkage 35 pounds per 750ml, arranged in advance. Discretionary 12.5 per cent service
- Standing
- A wine magazine that opened restaurants, and the only Noble Rot with a wine bar
How to get in
Go to this one for a drink and the Soho one for dinner, because Soho has no bar and every seat there is a full meal. Read the table rules before you book the restaurant side: parties of one to three get two hours, four or more get two and a half, and the kitchen takes its last order at 2.45pm and 9.45pm. If you want a long evening they suggest booking from 8pm. Cancel inside six hours and it is 50 pounds a head. Dogs are welcome at the bar and on the terrace but not in the restaurant.
Their Mayfair room on Trebeck Street also holds back walk in space at both its bars and on part of the terrace. Soho, at 2 Greek Street, does not.
Sager and Wilde, Hackney Road
The late one, and the reason to know it.
Sager and Wilde
- Address
- 193 Hackney Road, E2 8JL
- Nearest
- Hoxton or Bethnal Green
- Hours
- Monday to Wednesday 5pm to 11pm, Thursday 5pm to midnight, Friday 5pm to 1am, Saturday 2pm to 1am, Sunday 2pm to 11pm
- Booking
- hello@sagerandwilde.com
- Standing
- A Hackney Road wine bar open to one in the morning at weekends
How to get in
One in the morning on a Friday and a Saturday, which almost no wine bar in London does, and that alone makes it worth the journey east when everything central has called last orders. Note the other end of the clock: it does not open until five on weekdays, so this is not an afternoon. Weekends start at two.
The cellar
Gordon’s Wine Bar, Villiers Street
Open since 1890, candlelit, underground, and still the most atmospheric room on this page.
Gordon’s Wine Bar
- Address
- 47 Villiers Street, WC2N 6NE
- Nearest
- Embankment or Charing Cross
- Hours
- Not published on their own site, so ring 020 7930 1408 before a late visit
- Booking
- No reservations, except the Cage, which seats up to twelve, is booked online only, and carries a 250 pound minimum spend per slot whatever the party size. Three slots a day, the last 7pm to 10pm. Cancel inside 48 hours and there is a 125 pound fee
- Price
- More than fifteen cheeses and a charcuterie selection, with sherry and port from the barrel
- Standing
- Describes itself as London’s oldest wine bar, trading since 1890
How to get in
The vaulted candlelit cellar is what everyone comes for and the only way to get a table in it has always been arriving early: their own line is first come, first served, so arrive early for the best chance. The one exception is the Cage, the large table behind the cellar bars, which is now genuinely bookable and is the only guaranteed seat in the room. The heated awnings outside make the terrace a year round option and it takes the overflow. Sherry and port come from the barrel, which is the thing to order.
The one where you pour it yourself
Vagabond
More than a hundred wines in machines on the wall, and you decide how much of each you want.
Vagabond Wines
- Address
- Several London sites, plus an urban winery in the city
- Booking
- Walk ins always welcome, booking recommended at busy times
- Price
- Every wine is priced individually. You can take a taster, a small glass or a large one. Every bottle is also available to take home at a discounted retail price
- Standing
- Self pour machines with more than a hundred wines, organised by style
How to get in
The model is the point. You tap a card at the machine and take a taster measure rather than committing to a glass, which means you can work through six wines for the price of two and read the region, grape and tasting notes at the machine as you go. The other half nobody mentions: anything you like is available to take home at retail rather than restaurant prices, so an evening here doubles as a shop. They also make wine in London, which is rarer than it sounds. Dogs are welcome everywhere.
The neighbourhood one
Humble Grape
Humble Grape
- Address
- Seven London sites including Islington, Battersea and Canary Wharf
- Booking
- Through their own site, or info@humblegrape.co.uk
- Price
- Their Wine O’Clock offer is 6 pounds a glass on organic wines, Saturdays midday to 4.30pm at Canary Wharf, Islington and Battersea, and weekdays 5pm to 6pm at Canary Wharf
- Standing
- Seven neighbourhood wine bars, kitchens and shops, all organic, biodynamic and low intervention
How to get in
Six pounds for an organic glass on a Saturday afternoon is the best value on this page and it is published rather than whispered, though it runs at three of the seven sites only and stops at half four. The weekday version is Canary Wharf alone and lasts exactly one hour. Their tasting experience is five wines chosen for you at 45 pounds a head. Note their own numbers disagree across their site, one page saying more than 700 wines and another 500.
The specialist
Bar Douro
Portuguese wine done properly, which is the least crowded serious wine list in London.
Bar Douro London Bridge
- Address
- Arch 35B, 85B Southwark Bridge Road, SE1 0NQ
- Nearest
- London Bridge or Borough
- Booking
- 020 7378 0524, option 1, or londonbridge@bardouro.co.uk
- Standing
- Portuguese food and wine, under a railway arch near Borough Market
How to get in
A railway arch off Southwark Bridge Road and the only place on this page where the list is built around a single country. Portuguese wine is still underpriced relative to how good it is, which makes this the value answer for anyone who has drunk enough Burgundy. Their City site is at Finsbury Avenue Square. A third opens at 10 Greek Street in Soho this November, which will put it on the same short street as Noble Rot Soho at number 2.
What we could not check
Two of the three bars Google itself puts at the top of this search could not be verified. One well known south London wine bar’s website would not load for us across repeated attempts, and we will not print hours we could not read.
That is not a criticism of the bars. It is the reason there is no good guide to this subject: wine bars are small independent businesses that publish less than almost any other kind of venue, so everybody copies everybody and the hours in most lists are years old.
Practical notes
The kitchen shuts before the bar does, everywhere. Gordon’s stops serving food an hour before it closes. Noble Rot takes its last dinner order at a quarter to ten. If you want to eat, the closing time on the door is the wrong number to plan around.
The good rooms are the ones you cannot book. Gordon’s cellar and the Noble Rot bar and terrace are both walk in, and both fill from about six. Arriving at half five on a weekday is the whole strategy.
Ask about corkage before you carry a bottle in. Noble Rot publishes 35 pounds per 750ml and asks for notice. Most do not publish a figure at all, which means you find out at the table.
Taster measures change the maths. At Vagabond a taster is a fraction of a glass, so six wines cost less than two rounds. It is the cheapest way to find out what you actually like before spending properly somewhere else.
Everything here was taken from each bar’s own published information and rechecked on 28 September 2026. Where a site contradicts itself, as Gordon’s and Humble Grape both do, that is stated rather than resolved. Confirm before you travel.
Where to go next
Two of the clearest dog policies in London are on this page, at opposite ends. Dog friendly in London sets Vagabond, which takes dogs everywhere, against Noble Rot, which takes them at the bar and on the terrace and not in the restaurant.
The tapas counters are the closest thing to this page in shape, since both turn on where in the room you are allowed to sit and whether that part of it takes bookings.
The best bars in London covers the wider drinking picture and the cocktail bars the other half of it. Wine tasting in London covers the sit down tastings rather than the bars.
For the rooms rather than the list: the speakeasies and the pubs, where Gordon’s also appears in its proper context as the oldest of its kind.
By neighbourhood, Soho, Islington and Borough Market are the three areas that hold most of this page.
Questions we get asked
What is the best wine bar in London?
It depends which room you want. Gordon’s on Villiers Street has been open since 1890 and its candlelit cellar is the most atmospheric, with no bookings for most of it. Noble Rot on Lamb’s Conduit Street has the most serious list with a walk in bar attached. Sager and Wilde on Hackney Road is the only one that runs to one in the morning at weekends.
Do you need to book a wine bar in London?
For the restaurants yes, for the bars usually not, and that distinction matters. The Noble Rot wine bar and terrace on Lamb’s Conduit Street are walk in only and cannot be booked, while the restaurant beside them takes reservations and charges 50 pounds a head if you cancel inside six hours. Gordon’s has been first come first served since 1890, though its own homepage now advertises that one area can be reserved.
Which London wine bar is open latest?
Sager and Wilde on Hackney Road, which runs until one in the morning on Fridays and Saturdays and until midnight on Thursdays. That is unusually late for wine rather than cocktails. The trade off is the other end of the day, because it does not open until five on weekdays, so it is an evening rather than an afternoon.
Where can you drink good wine cheaply in London?
Humble Grape publishes a six pound glass on organic wines every Saturday from midday to half past four at its Canary Wharf, Islington and Battersea sites, plus weekdays from five to six at Canary Wharf only. Vagabond lets you take a taster measure rather than a full glass from more than a hundred machines, which is the cheapest way to try a lot.
What is corkage at a London wine bar?
It is the fee for drinking a bottle you brought yourself. Noble Rot publishes 35 pounds per 750ml and asks that you mention it in advance. Most London wine bars publish no corkage figure at all, which means the number is quoted to you at the table, so it is worth telephoning before you carry anything in.
What are some hidden gem wine bars in London?
Bar Douro under a railway arch on Southwark Bridge Road, where the list is entirely Portuguese and consequently much better value than an equivalent French one. Sager and Wilde on Hackney Road, far enough east that it is never the default. And the Noble Rot bar on Lamb’s Conduit Street, which most people walk past on their way to the restaurant beside it.
Can you buy wine to take home from a London wine bar?
At some, and at a better price than you would expect. Vagabond states that every wine on its list is available to take home at a discounted retail price rather than the bar price, so an evening tasting doubles as a way to work out what to buy. Humble Grape runs shops alongside its seven bars on the same principle.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 94 in the guide.
Last checked 28 September 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
