In Vino Veritas
Steve Finch has opened another Vagabond outpost in Spitalfields and it’s a corker
Review by Rupert Watkins Photography by Andy Barnham
Following successful operations in West and Central London, Steve Finch – the owner of Vagabond – has struck east moving into Spitalfields Market. It has only been open for just over a month but already has been pulling in the crowds with the Vagabond blend of good wine and stylish interiors.
The bar has over 100 wines on tap. As Steve comments, people tend to stick to what they know. Vagabond allows customers to taste and sample thus expanding their knowledge and appreciation of the grape, the ideal customer being, “someone who likes wine but doesn’t know a lot about it”. The selection is extensive covering the Old and New worlds as well as a couple of fortified and desert wines. Vagabond also has an excellent whisky and gin selection should your taste buds roam into that area.
Their wine dispensing machines come from a Dutch company, By the Glass, with argon gas being pumped into the bottles as they empty to keep oxygen away from the wine. Rather than paying per drink, you pre-load a card which then you place in the machine before selecting you tipple of choice. This method is brilliant, allowing you to wend your way around different countries, grapes and appellations tasting at your leisure. Steve deals with over 40 vineyards and importers so there is a constant variety of wine on offer. The staff are knowledgeable and courteous so aid in identifying your ideal glass is never far away.
The interior of the bar is stylishly done. Chatting with Nick Finch, the designer, he and Steve based the inside around a traditional European winery. It has a contempory feel but is warm and comfortable with an outside seating area in the market itself and an intimate basement with a further wine dispenser and original art of the walls. The existing brickwork has been stripped back and wine crates have been creatively used to create a very cool ceiling.
Vagabond also does excellent light snacks, based around cheese and chaurcuterie trays. Small enough to accompany the wine or act as a light lunch alternative these are very good.
So what next for this damn decent bar chain? Aside from the bar and personal wine sales by the bottle, the firm has an ever growing wholesale segment – indeed Steve has had to take on a full time wholesale manager to co-ordinate this arena. Vagabond has been offered and taken a site on the Battersea Power Station development which they hope will open next year. The Spitalfield branch has already had its first corporate tastings in the door and this is sure to increase.
If you are after a relaxed, stylish bar dedicated to allowing you to try new wine as well as partake of your old favourites head to Vagabond. It’s a corker. 
Enquiries: Vagabond Spitalfields, 67 Brushfield Street, London E1 6AA / 0203 6745670 / [email protected]
Other branches: 18 – 22 Vanston Place, Fulham SW6 & 25 Charlotte Street W1