London’s Best Wine Bars To Cosy Up In This Autumn

The team behind Goodbye Horses added another playful opening to its Islington corner with The Dreamery, an artisanal ice-cream shop and wine bar next door to its coffee shop, Day Trip. Together, the three venues create a small neighbourhood hub, with The Dreamery bringing a particularly fun twist to the mix. Head chef Jack Coggins oversees a seasonally changing selection of ice creams, balancing nostalgic favourites with more inventive flavours. Options could include gingerbread, mint chocolate chip, croissant and custard. To drink, there’s a range of light, easy-drinking glou-glou wines from small independent producers, designed to work alongside the ice cream. The setting is equally distinctive: a beautifully repurposed 19th-century building decorated with murals by artist Lucy Stein, inspired by British folklore and mythology.

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Bar Crispin has made a name for itself as one of Soho’s more eclectic wine bars. From the same team as Bistro Freddie and Kismet, the wine list focuses on low-intervention producers, with bottles from organic and biodynamic growers across Europe, ranging from easy-drinking options to more unusual finds. Food is equally relaxed, with a snack-led menu that might include monkfish crudo with blood orange and chilli, crab rarebit, lamb skewers and steak with peppercorn sauce. Head chef Lewis de Haas, originally from Nîmes and with Michelin experience behind him, keeps things refined without making them formal. The European wine list is curated by Daniel Ilsley, with a focus on producers who care about sustainability, sense of place and lesser-known grape varieties. Don’t leave without trying the French fries.

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Hector’s is a buzzy bottle shop and wine bar in De Beauvoir inspired by Parisian cave à manger culture and the drinking holes of San Sebastián. The project is headed up by Jimmy Stephenson, who spent seven years building the award-winning wine list at Hill & Szrok Butchers and Cookshop, and many of those bottles have made their way here. Expect a mix of natural and classic European wines, available to take home or enjoy on site. The space opens for coffee in the morning before shifting into a relaxed wine bar in the early evening, with small plates including Cantabrian anchovies, courgette carpaccio and tortilla with Spanish red peppers. Guest chefs often host takeover weekends and events. During the summer, outdoor seating adds to the neighbourhood feel.

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Amie Wine Studio is a relaxed Belgravia wine bar where wine and art take equal billing. Just a five-minute walk from Victoria station, the space is designed as a place to meet friends over a glass of excellent Amie wine, with a rotating programme of exhibitions created in partnership with different artists. Everything on display is available to buy, with 10% of proceeds donated to charity: water. The interiors have a similarly considered feel, with much of the furniture sourced from antique markets around the UK. Fabrics throughout the space come from Fermoie, whose Belgravia showroom is just next door. The result is an intimate, characterful setting that feels more like being in someone’s ultra-stylish home than a traditional wine bar. We also rate Weezie’s, the team’s next-door pizza bar.

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Set inside a pair of cavernous railway arches near Regent’s Canal, Planque is a destination for serious wine drinkers who also care about good food. Chefs’ chef Seb Myers has been refining his modern French cooking here for more than four years, attracting a loyal following that includes plenty of hospitality insiders. The 60-seat space centres around a 10m wooden table, with an open kitchen where chefs finish dishes in front of diners. Wine is equally important, with founder Jonathan Alphandery’s cellar built over 15 years around sought-after natural and minimal-intervention bottles. Members can even store their own collections in the temperature-controlled cellar. Regular events include producer dinners and themed evenings.

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Tucked away in Newson’s Yard, Wildflowers is a Mediterranean restaurant and wine bar that’s fast become one of our favourites after opening in 2024. Spread across two floors of a reclaimed timber yard, the space combines bright interiors with vintage furniture, creating an easy setting for everything from a casual drink to a longer dinner. The menu is driven by vibrant flavours and hyper-seasonal ingredients, with dishes including the likes of lamb tartare with harissa and labneh, and grilled sardine bruschetta with Amalfi lemon. Upstairs, you’ll find Bar Flor. Inspired by the bars of Spain and Italy, the wine list moves between classic and lesser-known bottles, with a focus on character, balance and drinkability. The bar snack menu is as good as the restaurant’s – make sure to soak up your glasses with one of the team’s excellent calamari sandwiches.

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Noble Rot takes wine seriously. Created by the team behind the independent wine magazine of the same name, the restaurants in Soho, Mayfair and Bloomsbury put wine at the centre of the experience without making things feel overly formal. The list is extensive in both geography and price, so it’s worth ordering a few glasses rather than committing to one bottle for the table. The food changes with the seasons, while the atmosphere remains reliably buzzy. Come autumn, the cosy bar on Lamb’s Conduit Street is particularly appealing for lingering over a drink or two, whether you’re stopping by for dinner or simply looking for somewhere atmospheric for an evening glass.

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