Gordon's Wine Bar

Covent Garden / Soho, London – Situated on a busy street just minutes from Trafalgar Square, Gordon’s Wine Bar is said to be one of the oldest wine bars in the world and a former haunt of luminaries like Rudyard Kipling and Sir Laurence Olivier.

Despite its historic prestige and old-timey feel, the wine-only bar remains popular among young vino connoisseurs, local business people, and tourists who pop in for Spanish reds, Argentinean whites, and a selection of sherries poured straight from the barrel.

As oenophiles enter the bar, they’re met by a food counter that includes a selection of cold meats, scotch eggs, and aged cheeses, as well as a small wood-paneled bar peppered with vintage advertisements and crowded with throngs of theatergoers and businessmen jostling for a seat.

While those in search of a smoke or a little fresh air head out to the patio, drinkers who prefer romantic warmth to London’s nighttime chill lead their dates through a tiny curved doorway into a dimly lit cellar, certainly the bar’s most remarkable space.

Full of flickering candles, rickety tables, and calcified stone walls carved into a half-barrel arch, the low-ceilinged cavern is said to be where Kipling penned his novel The Light that Failed – a title perhaps inspired by the dim but delightful cellar itself.

A family-owned venue that refuses to change with the times, Gordon’s Wine Bar has maintained its traditional décor and centuries-old cellar, offering a dusty testament to the idea that old-world charm, fine wine, and good company are infinitely more important than modern accoutrements.    ← read less