Harpers Wine & Spirit Trade News

Oxford’s Sandbach adds to wine bar stable

Published: 04 November, 2024

After a hiatus of several years the original site of the first Oxford Wine Café is to be reborn as the Oxford Wine Tavern.

Café François

Published: 09 October, 2024

Last month saw the opening of Café François, a modern-day French canteen in Borough Yards from the team behind Maison François. Drawing together influence from Paris’ classic cafés, the contemporary delis of California and stylish bistros of Montreal, founder François O’Neill has created a menu that pays homage to affordable French classics while also embracing the global influences that have shaped French cookery outside France. On the drinks side, a short, inventive wine list leads the charge, curated by wine director Daniel Illsley, with a strong message of sustainability throughout its playful selection of cool and original bottles. A considered cocktail list is also available, focusing on the classics.

Margo

Published: 07 October, 2024

Bookings are now open at Margo restaurant – a new concept from Scottish restaurant group Scoop and headed up by Glasgow native Robin Aitken. Due to open this month in Glasgow, the new drinking and dining outpost is intended to be an evolution of Scoop’s first restaurant Ox and Finch, which has just celebrated its 10th birthday. Situated in the city centre, Margo will maintain a flavour-led approach with a focus on Scottish meat and seafood, while the drinks list will be led by cocktails designed specifically to complement Aitken’s food. Margo will also offer Scoop’s most comprehensive wine list to date, with classic fine wines sitting alongside natural and biodynamic bottles from small, independent producers.

Luum

Published: 04 October, 2024

Cocktail bar and late-night lounge Luum will soon be opening its doors alongside two other entirely new concepts inside what was previously the Pantechnicon building. Meaning ‘earth’ in Mopan Mayan, Luum takes its inspiration from Mexican heritage and culture and has chosen to focus on mixology, with three signature concepts set to launch the venue with the wider theme of mother nature.

Good Measure

Published: 11 September, 2024

Tooting welcomes a new bar this September with the opening of Good Measure, hidden beneath Daddy Bao Taiwanese restaurant. The former storeroom has been transformed into an intimate 15-seat cocktail bar, offering an array of Taiwanese-inspired drinks. Open on Fridays and Saturdays, 6-10.30pm, this walk-in-only venue is ideal for a pre-dinner tipple or a spontaneous evening drink.

Clock House Tavern

Published: 09 September, 2024

Clock House Tavern is set to be Peckham Rye’s newest old-school pub. Situated on the park, the restored pub spans two floors and features a traditional interior with oak panelling, antique mirrors and leather banquettes. Parched, the independent pub group behind local favourites such as The Montpelier and The White Horse, has led the revival of this historic site.

Kinsbrook Vineyard

Published: 06 September, 2024

West Sussex vineyard Kinsbrook has relaunched itself as an evening restaurant, opening late on Fridays and Saturdays. Diners can expect seasonal dishes from local produce, served in a picturesque vineyard setting. The restaurant accommodates 45 covers indoors and 30 outside, with service from 6pm to 10pm.

Oriole

Published: 19 August, 2024

Oriole reopens on 28 August in Covent Garden, offering innovative cocktails and Latin American-inspired cuisine. The downstairs restaurant, designed as a speakeasy, features dishes like hamachi tiradito and lamb rump with huacatay. The Bamboo Bar upstairs offers aperitivo-style cocktails and bar snacks.

Margo

Published: 16 August, 2024

Margo, a new dining and drinking destination by Scoop restaurant group, opens this September in Glasgow. Headed by chef Robin Aitken, the menu focuses on seasonal produce, Scottish seafood and in-house crafted bread and pasta. Highlights include smoked haddock churros with manchego and saffron and Margo focaccia with prawn head butter. Desserts like baked rice pudding crème caramel offer a sweet finish.

Lolo

Published: 14 August, 2024

Chef José Pizarro’s new venture, Lolo, opens this month on Bermondsey Street. This all-day dining concept features a menu divided into breakfast and lunch/dinner offerings. Breakfast highlights include eggs with PX sherry-cured salmon, while lunch and dinner feature octopus salad with roast tomato and blackeye beans. The drinks menu includes Bloody Marys and Mediterranean wines.

The London Cabaret Club

Published: 12 April, 2024

Luxury entertainment specialist The London Cabaret Club has found a permanent home where it will continue to draw on its USP of combining fine dining with world-class performances. The London Cabaret Club was originally launched as a pop-up within the Arts Club, before going on to launch sold-out residencies at One Mayfair and The Collection in South Kensington. It has set up full time in the 1920s Bloomsbury Ballroom in Holborn, where it is serving a Prohibition-inspired drinks list created to coincide with its latest show. Cocktails are heavy on flavour and theatre, while the wine list bounces between top estates from Italy to Argentina, by way of France and vintage Champagne.

Los Mochis London City

Published: 10 April, 2024

Following the success of its Notting Hill venue, Mexican/Japanese fusion restaurant Los Mochis is soon to open a late-night rooftop outpost on the ninth floor of 100 Liverpool Street in Broadgate. Set to go live on 11 April, Los Mochis London City leans heavily into fine and rare tequilas and mezcals, boasting one of the largest selections in Europe. Guests can sample the drinks menu via the Agaveria bar and lounge, two private dining rooms and a 3,000sq ft outdoor terrace with views of the city. The venue also features a dedicated wine and sake room, plus sommeliers with specialisms in both categories on hand to make pairing recommendations.

Cloth

Published: 08 April, 2024

Friends and wine importers Joe Haynes and Ben Butterworth, together with chef Tom Hurst, are set to open a new restaurant and wine bar in Farringdon this spring. Having spent years supplying London’s upper echelon of restaurants through their wine businesses, Haynes and Butterworth have joined forces with Hurst to curate a list which draws heavily on Haynes’ Penzer Wines and Butterworth’s eponymous import and supply businesses, which specialises in grower Champagnes and new-wave Bordeaux.

Inside Berry Bros. & Rudd's new Spirits Shop

Published: 28 March, 2024

After over one hundred years of being a wine-front merchant, a spirits fascia bearing the name Berry Bros. & Rudd (BBR) is days away from opening to the public on the hallowed pavements of St James’.

The Blue Pelican

Published: 20 March, 2024

Chris Hicks and Alex Bagner, the husband-and-wife team behind The Rose in Deal, have just opened The Blue Pelican – a Japanese-inspired restaurant and natural wine bar set in a seafront townhouse with views over Deal Pier.

July

Published: 18 March, 2024

A new low-intervention, Alsatian-inspired restaurant and wine bar from food writer Solynka Dumas and co-founder Julian Oschmann is one of the more interesting upcoming additions to London’s food and wine scene. Opening in early spring, July will bring nourishing comfort-style food and low-intervention wines to Fitzrovia’s Charlotte Street, open from breakfast to dinner.

Morchella

Published: 15 March, 2024

The team behind Perilla, the popular neighbourhood hotspot on Newington Green, has just unveiled its latest venture – a restaurant-turned-wine-bar with a ‘Mediterranean twist’. Located just off Exmouth Market in a former bank, Morchella will offer modern interpretations of classical Mediterranean dishes, with a focus on high-quality, super-seasonal produce.

The Eden Mill Experience

Published: 14 February, 2024

Independent distiller Eden Mill opens its first brand-owned venue this month in Edinburgh, offering two interactive mixology experiences.

Kink(All)Y and Bar Kinky

Published: 12 February, 2024

Georgian-inspired restaurant Kinkally and its subterranean cocktail den, Bar Kinky, are now open on Charlotte Street.

Farm Shop

Published: 09 February, 2024

Artfarm, the independent hospitality company behind Roth Bar & Grill, the Fife Arms Hotel and Mount St Restaurant, has opened its 35-cover wine bar, Farm Shop, tucked away in the heart of Mayfair.