From Londoners to tourists, spooks to football managers, Gordon’s Wine Bar is a London institution. Millie Milliken heads into the cavernous world of the capital’s oldest wine bar to find out what treasured stories can be told.
The phrase ‘if walls could talk’ doesn’t quite do justice to the bar that has sat at 47 Villiers Street in London’s West End for over 130 years. Gordon’s Wine Bar is a London icon: a must-visit for out of towners, and invariably the centre of many a Londoner’s wine-fuelled tales. Having been going myself on a regular basis for the last 12 years and counting, I can confirm that out of all the bars I’ve frequented over the years – and it’s a lot – Gordon’s reigns (for my sins) as my most visited.
It was opened in 1890 by vinter Angus Gordon whose son and grandson (both called Angus too) took over respectively, but it is another Gordon family of no relation that took over the business in 1972 and have been keeping the famed bar at the top of its game ever since. “My memories of the bar are pretty clear,” says Simon Gordon of his first experiences at the family business. He’s the son of Luis and Wendy Gordon who bought the bar back in the seventies and has been owned by Wendy since Luis’ sad passing in 2002, with Simon taking the reins of operations. “When my father bought Gordon’s Wine Bar he had been working in the sherry trade, importing Domecq sherry into the UK. He was very early on in seeing that wine bars would become popular.”
He wasn’t wrong – getting a table at Gordon’s is gold dust and when you do get one, you settle in. Luckily, the charm of Gordon’s as well as the extensive wine list, crowd-pleasing cold cuts and cheese menu, and characterful surroundings and ephemera (cavernous candlelit space, clippings from old newspapers, family photos, and dusty bottles) make the hours – and it will be hours – fly by.
The capital’s oldest wine bar is also one of its most distinctive drinking holes
In the beginning
“When I first started working there it was tiny,” explains Simon. “There was a little bar upstairs and the back cellar – which is now the really iconic part of the bar – was just used for storage. My dad thought “God, this cellar is fantastic”, it was just too good to waste.” Once he was convinced to open it up as part of the bar, they bought some candle holders, furniture, moved the men’s toilet upstairs, put in a kitchen and a food counter and moved the bar to where it sits today, and put all the cellar barrels behind it.
It wasn’t just barrels they found in the cellar though. “We found a lovely old bottle of 1945 Champagne which we opened on the first day,” says Simon fondly. “It was just stuck in the cellar in a cubby hole and it was absolutely delicious. It still stands in the bar alongside my grandfather’s bottle collection.”
While the inside of Gordon’s is the most recognisable, most guests will have spent their time there in the outdoor alleyway. When Luis was in charge, he popped six sets of tables and chairs on the first small section. When Simon came back to work at the bar after a career in accounting, the outside became more and more popular. He erected awnings he bought while sailing in France, stuck some heaters on and now they can seat 168 extra customers (compared to the indoor capacity of 80) along the length of the entire terrace. “I never thought in a million years that people would go down to the end of the terrace – but it just went ballistic.”
The menu is full of delicious wines, including some of the bar’s own offerings
On the grapevine
I may have been patronising Gordon’s for over 10 years but I don’t think I’ve drunk the same wine twice. From the specials board to reams of wine, sherry, and Ports on the menu, not to mention the staff’s extensive knowledge of what you’d like based on a quick rundown of your preferred style, there are plenty of opportunities to try something different.
White, rosé and red wines include more traditional bottlings such as Henri Gaillard Cotes de Provence, South African Chenin Blanc, and Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Passofino, to natural, vegan, low sulphur, and even a non-alcoholic offering. Sherry comes from the barrel (like a chilled Manzanilla La Goya) or bottle, and there are even Gordon’s-own Ports and wines.
“I’ve got a pretty useless palate,” admits Simon. “I do however know what I like and I don’t like. I don’t like wines that are too acidic, and I can’t stand purple coloured red; I do like a nice white burgundy… You can easily see what the [trends] are: Prosecco went through a stage, and in summer we sell bags of rosé.”
Joan with Simon and his mother
Leading characters
While the wine list is varied, you’ll see a lot of regular faces behind the bar – some of the staff have been on the payroll for 75 years. When Simon first started working at Gordon’s he remembers someone called George, despite never meeting him: “People would always be asking ‘How’s George? Where’s George?” One stalwart he did meet though was Joan, a once customer who frequented the bar from 1936 (“when someone offered her a sherry and tried to get her sozzled”) and continued working at the bar until she was 90 years of age.
When it comes to the punters, it’s the stomping ground for plenty of famous people, Simon tells me, from politicians to actors, newsreaders, and football managers (although he’d rather not divulge their names to honour their anonymity thanks to Gordon’s dark corners). He also mentions that it’s a hot spot for members of the Ministry of Defence, as well as senior police and even some spooks due to the cavernous, noisy, and echoey nature of the bar meaning it’s hard to bug but easy to have secretive conversations.
Of course, Gordon’s succumbed to Covid as much as any other hospitality business over the last 18 months, but Simon admits that he prefers the operation now in terms of customer experience and in fact, a lot of what was implemented during the pandemic was already in place. “We were already doing table service [for wine as well as the cold menu of cheese, pies, scotch eggs and other items of a similar ilk],” but the no-booking policy means that while there is usually a short queue on the pavement upstairs, people are more than happy to chat to each other while they wait and tales turn quickly giving as many people as possible the chance to experience Gordon’s for the first (or 100th) time.
You can find Gordon’s on 47 Villiers St in Embankment, London. We highly recommend you pay it a visit
Future tales
There have been a couple of additions to Gordon’s brand over the years too, which have sadly closed down. One was another Gordon’s-style place in an old garage in Stockbridge, while a bar called Villiers was opened a few doors up from the original bar but has since closed down. Saying that, Simon alludes to a potential new purchase that may be an extension of the original bar in the not too distant future. And it’s lovely to hear that his daughter Lucy has set up her own drinks company, From Our Cellar, showcasing producers of wine, spirits, and food all in one marketplace – “it’s really nice seeing her doing something in the wine trade.”
As for Gordon’s Wine Bar, Simon is keen to keep customers old and new coming back to enjoy the unique experience you can only get at Gordon’s: “When I first took over I thought I’d open a chain, but it’s so unique, it’s the perfect location, it’s manageable. It’s just too difficult to keep the same [level of experience] when you have too many places.”
One customer who’s happy to hear that is myself who, as I sign off this piece, am planning on spending a Monday lunchtime off work down in those hallowed cellars. They really don’t make them like Gordon’s Wine Bar anymore.
