The wine bars every Londoner should know about

A funny thing happened in lockdown. Bars shut but they seeded a growing crop of bottle shops that, since freedom has been declared have either turned back into, or become, bars in their own right. And now that we can, there is pure pleasure in twisting bottles around in the light, mulling labels and wine lists first hand instead of squinting at them online. There is also a comforting intimacy to wine bars that sits at odds with the clatter of a pub: an air of sophistication, even if you have no idea what the sommelier is talking about.

That said, with a new crop offering both more outlandish and more accessible wine lists, there’s even less need to feel like you have to be able to tell your Grenache from your Syrah or muse about undertones of chocolate if all you want is to knock back a glass of the good stuff.