Ask most visitors where to drink in London and they’ll name a pub. Fair enough. But some of the city’s best stories are being told over a glass of wine, in candlelit cellars and wood-panelled bars that have barely changed in over a century.
As a former café owner who later added a wine licence to my own café, I’m a little obsessed with these places. Here’s a local’s introduction to London’s oldest wine bars, and why they’re worth hunting down.
Gordon’s Wine Bar: wine in the vaults since the 1890s
Tucked down Villiers Street near Embankment, Gordon’s is widely described as London’s oldest wine bar. It was founded in the 1890s by Angus Gordon, a free vintner who set up shop in the old vaults, and the arched, candlelit cellars still look much as they must have back then.
The building above has its own story. Before Victoria Embankment pushed the Thames back, this was riverside land: Samuel Pepys once lived on the site, and a warehouse stood here in the 1790s. Later, Rudyard Kipling rented rooms in the building from 1889 to 1891 while writing The Light That Failed. It’s still called Kipling House.
Local tip: the cellar tables go fast after work. Arrive early in the evening, and if it’s dry, the terrace on Watergate Walk is a lovely backup.
El Vino: Fleet Street’s wine bar of record
Fleet Street was once the home of Britain’s newspapers, and its journalists needed somewhere to drink. El Vino began life in 1879 as Bower and Co., a wine merchant founded by Alfred Bower, and took the El Vino name in 1923. For decades its regulars included reporters, columnists and writers such as G. K. Chesterton and Ian Fleming.
It also has a less glamorous claim to fame. Women were allowed to drink there, but they weren’t allowed to stand at the bar and order. That rule only ended after a 1982 court case found it broke the Sex Discrimination Act. These days the crowd is mostly barristers and solicitors from the nearby courts, and the bar inspired Pomeroy’s wine bar in Rumpole of the Bailey.
Why wine bars, not just pubs?
- They’re quieter. Most old wine bars are built for conversation, not football.
- They’re often underground. Many sit in former cellars, vaults and warehouses, so the building itself is part of the experience.
- You can taste more. Plenty of London wine bars offer flights or tasting measures, so you can try three wines instead of committing to one bottle.
- They pair well with cheese. A proper London wine bar cheese board is a thing of beauty.
Tips for a wine bar crawl in London
- Go early in the evening (from around 5–6 PM) before the after-work rush peaks.
- Ask staff what’s open by the glass that day; it often changes.
- Pace yourself with smaller measures and something to eat at each stop.
- Wear comfortable shoes: the best places involve stairs, alleys and cobbles.
See London’s hidden wine bars with a local
If you’d rather someone else did the planning, our Secret Wine Bars of London tour does exactly this. Over about three hours we start with skyline views over the Thames and St Paul’s, have cheese where Churchill and Kipling once drank, sip in a former Victorian water tunnel below the city, and finish with sommelier-picked wine flights in an elegant townhouse bar. Groups are capped at six, and it’s 18+.
Ready to raise a glass? Book the Secret Wine Bars of London tour.
