This is a revised version of an article that was first published on the site many years ago. Fortunately, considerable revision has been necessary because of the healthy recent increase in the number of interesting wine bars, wine-related restaurants and independent wine merchants. As a sign of how long ago I wrote the original, I have just deleted the following sentence: 'I have included fax numbers because this may be the easiest way to book from overseas what with time differences and all.'

SIGHTS

Walk down St James's Street, SW1. Not only is there St James's Palace at the bottom and various gentlemen's clubs on either side (look for a handsome 18th century building with no or extremely discreet markings by the door and/or well tailored men stumbling out in the afternoon or languidly reading newspapers in drawing rooms inside; there are more of them along Pall Mall to the left at the bottom of the street). Brooks's at the top on the right as you walk down the street was the late Harry Waugh's and Michael Broadbent's club. Boodles is an even prettier, white building almost opposite. At number 61 on the right is Justerini & Brooks, the energetic fine-wine merchant that can offer some hand-picked treasures. Buyer, now managing director, Hew Blair works far harder than he need, thank goodness.

Further down on the opposite side at number 3 is J & B's longstanding rival Berry Bros & Rudd, which owns an extraordinary proportion of the real estate in this sector of St James's (just opposite Clarence House, home of Prince Charles, on Pall Mall). This is the real reason for your saunter down this street - which continues to undergo a flurry of renovation with smart restaurants and even hotels going up at a giddy rate. BB&R was for long rather moribund and financed by Cutty Sark whisky, but in the last 10 years or so it has become one of Britain's most dynamic wine merchants in its own right. The Berrys and Berry-Greens have been clever enough to realise that its strongest distinguishing mark is its long history, which is celebrated in full at St James's Street. The buildings in which it conducts its London business (the real work is done in less romantic surroundings in Basingstoke) have recently been tarted up, and the extension to the shop now has many a bottle on display. But step on to the bare boards of the original wine shop and you will get something of the flavour of an 18th-century London merchant. Berry Bros still have the weighing scales and records of the weights of Regency dandies and worthies, and the well-suited young men may now use computers but they (the computers rather than the young men) are cunningly inset into old-fashioned high wooden desks. Have a snoop around and ask if you can see their recently restored cellars on at least two floors below in which many wine events are held. While here you could turn in to King Street and see if there's a wine sale going on in one of the grand old, or pretend grand old, salerooms at Christie's. Check www.Christies.com first.

If you are that way inclined, you might enjoy immersion in the City of London, basically London's financial district. More and more banks and other financial institutions are moving east to the modern wastes of Canary Wharf but you can still get the flavour of this very particular part of London by blinking your way up into the daylight from Bank tube station and watching People at Work, generally dashing about and looking harassed - a highly satisfactory sight when on holiday, I find. Hardly anyone actually lives in this area (it's deserted at weekends) but you can get the historical picture by visiting the Museum of London near the modern Barbican (an exceptional, for the City, housing and cultural development) and, if you're fit, climb the Monument for a better view.

Most wine merchants have been driven out of the City by the high rents but Uncorked at 15 Exchange Arcade, Broadgate, London EC2, is an exception. This is a tiny operation that specialises in supplying City wine lovers with some of the world's up-and-coming trophy wines so you might find something of interest here. Free vintner John Davy has a string of faux Victorian wine bars all over the City (and elsewhere in the middle of London) which have particularly good value vintage port, sawdust on the floor, etc. Corney & Barrow have several modern wine bars in the City and can offer some interesting wines by the glass, and the opportunity to study one particular subspecies in considerable detail. Go to one of these bars only if you have high testosterone tolerance, however. Sweetings is the most stereotypical City restaurant.

While you're in this part of London, cross the Thames at Southwark Bridge, noticing Vintners' Hall on your right where so much wine was once offloaded from the river, and which still houses the offices of the Vintners' Company. Once over the Thames, turn left and walk along the south bank of the river by the Financial Times HQ to Vinopolis, London's wine-based tourist attraction. You can enjoy this well-restored old building, taste wine, choose from a good selection of wine books and gear, and afterwards eat either at the restaurant, Cantina, or the wine bar Wine Wharf. There is also Neal's Yard Dairy, Brindisa's tapas bar and the rest of Borough Market as well as a retail branch of Laithwaite's, Britain's biggest mail order wine retailer now expanding internationally, inside Vinopolis.

WINE SHOPS

Most of Britain's best wine merchants are spread around the country and occasionally suburbs, operating from printed and electronic lists rather than cute little boutiques in the capital.

However, as well as these merchants mentioned above,
Justerini & Brooks, London SW1
Berry Bros & Rudd, London SW1
Uncorked, London EC2
Laithwaite's at Vinopolis, London SE1

there are a few particularly good independent wine retailers:

Lea & Sandeman, 301 Fulham Road, London SW10 and 211 Kensington Church Street, London W8, close to Notting Hill Gate tube station, and 51 Barnes High Street, London SW13, and now in Chiswick. These bright, modern shops offer a wide range of individually chosen wines. The selection is particularly strong on Tuscany, Rhône, Burgundy and south-west France.

Handford Wines, 105 Old Brompton Road, London SW7 (very close to Christie's, South Ken), and 12 Portland Road, London W11. Small, very personal shops whose stock is driven by passion and interest - especially good at Burgundy, southern French and Portuguese table wines.

The Winery in Clifton Road, London W9. Excellent hand-picked, actually foot-driven, selection from anywhere that owner David Motion has recently visited. Dry Germans are a speciality.

Haynes Hanson and Clark on the corner of Ebury and Eccleston Streets, London SW1. Pimlico store run by Master of Wine Anthony Hanson and partners. Burgundy a speciality.

Roberson, Kensington High Street, London W14. Large, modern, cavernous shop with a wide selection at the Olympia end of Kensington High Street.

Pont de la Tour, Shad Thames, Butlers Wharf, London SE1, is the very well-stocked wine store attached to the Conran restaurant of the same name on the south side of Tower Bridge. Excellent and unpredictable selection but Sir Terence believes in robust pricing.

Jeroboams, fine wine stores dotted around central London with a pretty good selection.

Philglas & Swiggot small group of shops specialising in hand-picked wines, notably but not exclusively Australian.

Green and Blue, newish wine store and wine café in East Dulwich.

The Sampler, very useful pair of shops in Upper Street, Islington, and by South Kensington tube station, which offers a rotating range of very fine wines indeed by the 25ml pour and also has one of the UK's most wide-ranging selections of fine wines available anywhere retail.

Planet of the Grapes just south of the British Museum is very individual.

Theatre of Wine in Greenwich and now in Tufnell Park, north London, is also run with great personal dedication.

I am also indebted to Purple pager Dave Stenton for the following four recommendations:

Bottle Apostle in Victoria Park - offers sampling via Enomatic machines.

Vagabond Wines, Fulham - also has Enomatics (and is cheap compared with others - they had a 2005 Alion for £2  a taste when I last visited).

Highbury Vintners, Highbury - fantastic selection of wine but also a wide range of microbrewery beers.

City Beverage Company, Old Street - a little pricey but decent selection and, again, good beer selection.

There are other small outfits all over the capital. If you are a real wine junkie, or a wine professional, you may want to see where Brits typically buy their wine. More than 70 per cent of all wine in the UK is bought at one of the big supermarkets: Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda, Morrisons, or possibly the Co-operative (which acquired Somerfield in 2009) or (still the best ) Waitrose. Branches vary enormously in the range they offer. Flagship stores include Waitrose at Canary Wharf and Halkin Street, SW1, Sainsburys at Gloucester Road and Tesco not far away where the Cromwell Road becomes elevated. If you are staying with a native, rather than at a hotel, ask them to show you their nearest supermarket. You will see just how cut-throat the wine business is at this level.. Majestic is a highly successful chain of wine warehouses with a flagship fine-wine store in St John's Wood, NW8. 

WINE-MINDED RESTAURANTS IN AND AROUND LONDON 

For recommendations of London restaurants that have no particular wine connection, check out Nick's weekly recommendations - or you could put 'London restaurants' in the search box, having chosen the Rest of site option from the dropdown menu.

Until recently London has been generally pretty awful at wine bars and even at wine by the glass. You generally had to go to a gastropub (= converted old pub with a wooden floor, a blackboard menu and some armchairs) to get a decent wine by the glass and sometimes even they can let you down. Today though we can choose from two branches of two establishments that are effectively wine bars with very superior food: Vinoteca near Smithfield market and in Seymour Place just north of Marble Arch and Terroirs between Trafalgar Square and Charing Cross with its offshoot that opened in late 2010, Brawn in Columbia Road, east London. Terroirs and Brawn are closely associated with wine importers Caves de Pyrène and the natural wine movement. The wine bars in the food halls of Fortnum & Mason and Selfridge's are also worth checking out, and, like F&M, Canary Wharf Waitrose offers customers the chance to drink bottles bought on the premises paying very modest corkage. Another very welcome addition to the scene is the wine-focused restaurant 28-50 just off Fleet Street, which showcases the smart contents of several personal wine collections at fair prices. In smart Knightsbridge, in the basement of the Mandarin Oriental hotel, indeed, is the London version of Bar Boulud, with a fine, mainly French wine list and always something superior available by the glass. 

London now has a few sherry/tapas bars that are worthy of the name such as Barrafina (always with queues outside, it seems to me), Brindisa (several branches), Dehesa, Meson Don Felipe, Morito (son of Moro in Exmouth Market below), The Opera Tavern, Pepito near Kings Cross and in Canary Wharf, El Pirata and Saltyard.  Long may they flourish.

Some of our personal favourite wine-minded restaurants are listed below.

If you're prepared to spend and travel to find something really out of the ordinary (strange combos done with conviction and real technical expertise) you should try The Fat Duck, High Street in Bray (tel +44 1628 580333, fax +44 1628 776188) - train to Maidenhead then taxi. Heston Blumenthal cooks a bit like Ferran Adría of El Bulli in Spain but I don't think has ever been there, or certainly not until quite recently. Great wine list too.

Also in Soho is the excellent Arbutus, which serves all its wines in a variety of glasses and carafes and has sister places Wild Honey in St George Street just south of Hanover Square and Les Deux Salons in William IV Street almost opposite Terroirs.

St John, 26 St John Street, London EC1, has a wine importer attached. It's world-famous, very minimal, very meaty, very English, near the old Smithfield meat market, where there are now lots of bars and restaurants. 'Nose to tail eating' is what they claim to offer. One of Nick's favourite restaurants, though some, especially vegetarians, find it a little stark. Quite interesting French wine list but not great glasses. Also in the St John empire are the more basic St John Bread & Wine near Liverpool Street station and, soon, St John Hotel in Soho.

You could do a lot worse than wander round the Smithfield area. If you're interested in eating French cuisine, you might try the Club Gascon, 57 W Smithfield, for lots of little portions of foie gras, local sausages, etc and interesting wines from SW France. Anyone for Marcillac?

Probably the most wine-friendly restaurant in London is Ransome's Dock, 35-37 Parkgate Road, London SW11. Martin and Vanessa Lam believe in top-quality local ingredients and giving everyone a fairly casual good time. The unusually wide age range here is a tribute to them. Fascinating wine list and a high probability of bumping into another winey person. The Willi's Wine Bar of London.

Nigel Platt-Martin's group comprising The Square in London W1, Chez Bruce in Wandsworth, The Glasshouse in Kew, La Trompette in Chiswick and The Ledbury in Notting Hill has exceptional wine lists and well educated staff in each of them. Pretty delicious food too with great wines that are not too overpriced (most other places will make you scream at the greed).

The restaurant at Tate Britain has long been famous for the scope and fair prices of its wine list, even if the food is far from exceptional. Great setting too, and you can take in the Turners en route.

Best Chinese restaurant for wine lovers is Hunan in Pimlico, which has a superb wine list at knockdown prices. Both branches of Hakkasan have exceptional wine (and sake) lists too.

Pretty much everything in London costs a fortune. The spreading rash of gastropubs, old pub premises converted into casual restaurants, are probably the best bet for good-value eating. Try www.zagat.com for the Pub dining section and more details. When in London, you could also buy either Hardens or the Time Out restaurant guides.

Another potential budget-priced option is to eat Indian. London has hundreds of Indian restaurants and almost any of them would provide novelty to most foreigners (with the exception of Indians, Bangladeshis and Pakistanis of course). Ask wherever you are staying for local recommendations. Most Indian restaurants are inexpensive and vary from interesting to good. An exceptionally good - and much more expensive - example is Rasoi Vineet Bhatia near Sloane Square, where the food is much fresher and more creative than average and the wine list is superior.

Just bring loads of money...London is pretty poor at cheap food. Marks & Spencer stores and the Prêt à Manger chain are probably best for sandwiches, etc, and see Nick on restaurants for some suggested cheaper places and more recent opening.

Thinking about it does make me wonder how we afford to live here.

See also this really useful list of various London restaurants' policy on BYO.