The Spread Eagle, Homerton
Plant-based boozing doesn’t come much stronger than The Spread Eagle, with all the wine, cocktails and beers in this gorgeous Homerton spot 100% vegan. It’s none too shabby on the food front, with the plant-based menu crammed with twists on hearty pub classics: think pie, mash, and liquor, or a mushroom and fake camembert pasty, ideal for soaking up your Hazelnut White Russian — this version with coconut milk and raw cacao — or a prowl through the wine list, which starts at a reasonable £19 a bottle. Busy, beautiful — think dark wood and peacock velvet — and the perfect amount of rowdy, the pub’s a favourite of vegans and dedicated meat-lovers alike.
The Spread Eagle, 224 Homerton High Street, E9 6AS.
Cafe Van Gogh, Oval
What’s not to love about this all-vegan south London gem? A not-for-profit venue that funnels all the revenue back into its community projects, it’s as lovely in spirit as it is of interior. The turreted ceiling’s painted with a wall-to-wall Starry Night-inspired mural, the raw brick walls are scattered with arching windows and art prints, and the food menu’s hearty enough to drive away that winter chill.
Vegan wine comes by the very affordable glass, but the place is so damn inviting you’re probably going to want to settle in for the evening with a £16 bottle.
Cafe Van Gogh, 88 Brixton Road, SW9 6BE. Closes at 9pm most evenings and isn’t open on Monday.
Passione Vino, Shoreditch
There are hidden depths to this demure-looking east London wine shop. The small and lovely shopfront gives way to some small and lovely backrooms — where you can crack into the enormous and lovely range of vegan wines. The focus is low-intervention wine from all corners of Italy, and the emphasis on small, artisan production methods means 95% of the stock is de facto vegan.
Something nearer ambassadors than wine-merchants, the Passione team have close ties to their suppliers, and an in-depth knowledge of their methods, varietals, ethical practices… ideal for when you want minute detail about the filtering practices or the vegan cred of any given product. Beware spending more time in here than you meant to; the passione is catching.
Passione Vino, 85 Leonard Street, EC2A 4QS.
The Gate, Hammersmith and other locations
A veteran of London’s vegetarian dining scene, The Gate has been serving high-end, plant-forward food to west London locals for more than three decades now. With a small string of restaurants across London, the wine lists are all entirely vegan — though we reckon the Hammersmith branch is still the hottest ticket in good weather, thanks to its secluded, vine-trailing garden. Prices can be on the punchy side, but the quality’s high.
The Gate, locations in Islington, Hammersmith, Marylebone and St. John’s Wood.
Unwined, Tooting
A small, buzzy unit in Tooting Market, Unwined packs a lot of enthusiasm, knowledge and vegan wine options into a miniature footprint. There’s an extensive range of bottles to drink in or take away — but we recommend checking out the monthly-changing by-the-glass menu. Always themed along interesting lines, it’s aimed at introducing you to lesser-known producers, methods or regions: shout-out to February 2019’s Baby, It’s Cold Outside, a whirlwind tour of cold climate wines. Also worth looking out for regular and generous happy hours, lunch specials and supperclubs.
Unwined , Unit 16A, Tooting Market, 21-23 Tooting High Street, SW17 0SN, with a second venue in Waterloo.
The Tapas Room, Peckham and more locations
The menu at the Tapas Room restaurants — recently adding a Peckham branch to their small group of south London locations — is heavy on cured meats and cheese-centric sharing plates. But if you’re looking for an aperitivo bar, rather than a huge restaurant dinner, it ticks a lot of plant-based boxes: the extensive wine list changes regularly but you can expect roughly half or more of the bottles to be vegan, with a good range by the glass. Between the busy, sunny spot on Peckham High Street, and the bar snack menu — which has plenty of olives, pan con tomate, and crusty, chewy bread with oil, to act as plant-based stomach lining — it’s a great pitstop for a pre-dinner drink.
The Tapas Room, 119 Peckham High Street, SE15 5SE.
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