Our 12 favourite wine bars, cocktail bars and drinking spots in South London
Sometimes you just want to know where the best drinking spots are, and we’re not judging. On so many lists of hotspots in the city, it’s inevitable that 99% of them will be in North, East and West London, leaving out all the amazing places we’ve discovered south of the river. After ten years of living here, we wanted to highlight these amazing establishments so more people can discover them!
So if you’re looking for an amazing wine bar in Crystal Palace, a cocktail bar in Brixton, or a taproom to have a few pints with friends in Gipsy Hill, we’ve got all the top spots for you! These are our favourite drinking spots in South London. Let us know if we’ve missed any!
Tooting Market: If you’re looking for a drinking spot in South London, there is genuinely no better place than Tooting Market. Confusingly there’s actually two markets in Tooting; Tooting Market and Broadway Market. They are both located right next to each other near to Tooting Broadway tube, and both have loads of drinking (and eating!) options inside. There’s a really casual vibe with lots of small stalls, traders and shops, with loads of seats, benches and tables to sit at. Both have a real hustle and bustle atmosphere and are always busy
The Sourcing Table in Crystal Palace: With a first shop/bar in Peckham, The Sourcing Table has recently opened a second venue in Crystal Palace and it’s become our new favourite hang. It’s been open on the triangle for a couple of months and already we’ve been there like 5 times! We’ve all been to disappointing wine bars before, but this is not one of them. Their selection of wines changes weekly so there’s always something new to try - I had a Greek white wine the other day that they recommended which was so fresh, crisp and minerally I immediately ordered another glass and haven’t stopped thinking about it since. There are quite a few tables inside, plus a few outside on sunny days, and traffic moves quite quickly so you can always stand at the bar for a few minutes to wait for a place to become open. Highly highly highly recommend this place!
Red Vine in Clapham: This family-owned restaurant has delicious food but it was actually the wine and cocktails that really stole our hearts here! The family who own it also own a vineyard so the wine really was divine! They also do 241 cocktails every evening from open until late and they have a whole menu dedicated to spicy margaritas!! The spicy peach marg was our favourite; they were made properly behind the bar (not just a pre-made job) and came fully loaded with garnishes. Absolutely 10/10 and the interiors are like something out of a Nora Ephron film.
Unwined in Tooting: There are some places that will always be your favourite and Unwined in Tooting is one of them. We first visited for our best friend’s hen party a couple of years ago and have been regulars ever since. It’s quite literally the best wine bar we’ve ever been to HANDS DOWN. Firstly because the prices are always so reasonable but secondly and mostly because Billy who works there always recommends the most delicious wines to try. She’s my one woman wine North Star and I’d try anything she said was good. Slap bang in the middle of the market, it’s also got a really buzzing vibe that make it the perfect place for a Friday or Saturday evening. I can’t get enough of it!
Unwined in Waterloo: Yes, they have another bar in Waterloo! And I know it seems weird to list both options here, but they’re actually quite different to each other. The Unwined in Waterloo is just behind the station on Lower March, and focuses just as much on its food offering as the wine making it a lovely place to meet friends for a weekday evening (as it’s near Waterloo I find that usually everyone can get there easily which is really handy). Close and Soan are the resident chefs who take Inso from the Mediterranean to create a menu of small sharing plates plus meat and cheeseboards that are always the sort of divine thing I want to eat as I make my way through a bottle of wine!
Funkidory in Peckham: After so many disappointing cocktails that are basically an excuse for bars to charge £15 for excessively sugary fruit juice I kind of gave up on the idea that London has any good cocktail bars, until our friends introduced us to Funkidory in Peckham. This independently owned bar is run by two local residents and you can really tell, because they’ve put so much love and attention into everything they do. Their “premium cocktails” are actually that - really unique and unusual flavour combos that taste bloody delicious. We go back there again and again and drink the same things because they’re just so good including the Rye Lane which is sort of like a newly imagined old fashioned, and this other cocktail I can’t remember the name of but comes with a square of locally made Turkish delight on the side which is amazzzzing.
Forza Wine in Peckham: So, I have a few things to say about Forza Wine. I don’t think they do the best food, the best drinks or the best cocktails ever, BUT. You really can’t beat their view. And that’s what it’s all about! Located at the top of rooftop right opposite Peckham Rye station as part of the ever-expanding Bussey Building and Copeland car park complex, you have to come here to enjoy a drink with that incredible 180 degree view they offer of London. Seriously, there is nothing quite like it. The bar itself it relatively small but has floor-to-ceiling glass walls so even on a grey or rainy day you can still enjoy the view, but in summer? Wow. With terrace seating, you can sit along an outdoor bar staring quite literally into the face of the entire London skyline. And it doesn’t get much better than that.
Gipsy Hill Brewery Taproom: Taprooms are one of South London’s most unappreciated resources, and our favourite of the bunch is of course Gipsy Hill Brewery Taproom in, where else, Gipsy Hill. Just a few minutes’ walk from the station, this large and open taproom space has so much to offer. Of course, they have lots of delicious South London-made craft beers on tap for you to try, but they also offer so much more too! From craft events on weekday evenings, to quizzes, big screens to watch live sport, and markets (wink, wink!) there’s always something fun and free going on there. They’ve even partnered up with London’s favourite food market, Kerb, so they have different hot food vendors there all the time. The space is also dog friendly, and as it’s completely flat, is pretty buggy friendly, and we see lots of families convene there at the weekend. If you’re planning to meet a big group of friends, do it here! Their outdoor bench seating makes it ideal of big gatherings in summer.
Bedales of Borough: We didn’t know Bedales of Borough even existed until one evening we were in the area and in desperate need of a glass of wine (you know those kind of evenings!?) Mooching through the market, we spotted this unassuming place, saw people drinking wine through the window, and thought it looked quite cute, so decided to give it a try. We were so glad we did! It’s an independent, family-owned wine bar located right next to Borough Market just over the road from London Bridge, making it super centrally located. With a cosy and intimate interior, it’s a lovely little sanctuary away from the business of the area, and a lush spot to enjoy a glass of wine or two as you watch the world go by.
Vagabond in Clapham: This place is famous because it has wines on tap so you just pay for what you drink! A cool exciting new concept, and as you’d hope, it’s got absolutely delicious wines. The whole on-tap thing makes it a fun and exciting set-up for a night out with the girls which is exactly what we spent our evening here doing! There were 100+ wines from around the world available to try with their unique self-pour wine machines; you literally tap and go, and each has a descriptive bit of info above which helped guide your selection, and also made it easy to testout lots of different bottles we might not have gone for anywhere else. Name a better way to while away a few hours!?
Crystal Palace Wine Club: Crystal Palace Wine Club started life as just that - a wine club! Operating out of a local cafe, it was only ever meant to be a pop-up event run every few months run by a local wine importer Tom. But after the runaway success of his wine tasting evenings (of which I went to quite a few!) he decided to expand the business past a pop-up and look for a more permanent space to set-up. And he did just that, opening his bar just a couple of doors down on Anerley Hill, right opposite Crystal Palace station. It’s a cute little place selling different wines by the glass as well as small plates with locally produced meats and cheeses!
Three Eight Four in Brixton: As I said earlier, my confidence in cocktail bars is pretty limited. Which is why once we find a good one, we basically go back there again and again and again, and again. Three Eight Four in Brixton is one of those type of places, that we’ve been going to for years. Located right on Coldharbour Lane, you’ve probably walked past the place loads of times without going in. If you’ve ever looked through their giant windows you’ve probably seen busy tables full of people having a great time - it’s always busy when we visit and it’s because their drinks are so good! Their cocktail list is super extensive and creative, they even have a full menu just for espresso martinis!
