The Best Wine Bars in Islington & North London, 2026
Written by James Dawson, Founder and CEO of Humble Grape.
Islington is a good place to drink wine because an evening can start in several ways. You might step off Upper Street for dinner, take the Essex Road bus south from Stoke Newington, or come down from Highbury with a bottle in mind. The area has cellar bars, shop counters and restaurant tables, each with its own pace.
This guide covers seven wine-led places in Islington and nearby North London, including our own Humble Grape Islington. Pick Humble Grape for a full kitchen and a long, direct-from-grower list; Stable Wines for its below-street cellar; Godet when you want Cantonese food with the bottle; Provisions for cheese and a shop browse; Yield N1 for take-home bottles and drinking in; Top Cuvée for Blackstock Road; and Cadet for Newington Green. Opening times and booking rules change, so use the venue links before setting out.
At a glance: seven wine bars and wine-led rooms
| Venue | Best fit | Wine focus | Food and room | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Humble Grape Islington | Dinner, a pre-theatre table or a Saturday lunch | 500+ wines direct from growers | Full kitchen, sharing plates and Sunday Roast | 11-13 Theberton Street, N1 0QY |
| Godet | An evening built around food and wine | Rotating wine list | Ling Ling’s Cantonese kitchen in a former pub | 382 Essex Road, N1 3PF |
| Stable Wines | A cellar drink with a group booking option | Low-intervention leaning list, by the glass | Goodbye Horses food in a cellar bar | 344a Essex Road, N1 3PD |
| Provisions | Cheese, a bottle to take home or TOPA at night | Organic, biodynamic and natural producers | Shop and cheese counter, then pintxos | 167 Holloway Road, N7 8LX |
| Yield N1 | Choosing a bottle from the shelf | Natural wine shop and bar | Shop format with drink-in option | 97 St Paul’s Road, N1 2NA |
| Top Cuvée | A Blackstock Road dinner or bottle shop stop | Natural wine and producer-led bottles | Bar, shop and rotating guest kitchen | 177B Blackstock Road, N5 2LL |
| Cadet | A Newington Green meal with wine | An importer-led list | Daily-changing cave-à-manger cooking and charcuterie | 57 Newington Green, N16 9PX |
1. Humble Grape Islington: a full kitchen just off Upper Street
11-13 Theberton Street, N1 0QY, a short walk from Angel
Our Islington bar sits on Theberton Street, behind the brick and greenery of the streets off Upper Street. The dining room is away from the main-road rush while Angel and the Almeida stay close enough for a planned evening.[1]
Come here when food needs to carry equal weight with the wine. The kitchen serves small plates, cheese and charcuterie boards, larger dishes and Sunday Roast. Our list has 500+ wines, bought direct from small, family-run producers. The range includes organic, natural, biodynamic and otherwise sustainably made wines. Those terms overlap, but they are not interchangeable: natural wine has no single legal definition, and each producer’s practice differs. Ask our team about a bottle rather than treating the list as a test.[1]
The practical draw is breadth. Dinner can begin with a glass and carry on through a full meal; a pre-theatre visit has its own two-course-and-wine menu for £27, Monday to Saturday from 5pm to 6.30pm.[1] The bar welcomes walk-ins and takes SevenRooms bookings. Dogs can come inside or sit outside with you.[1]
On Saturdays, Wine O’Clock runs from 12pm to 4.30pm. It is £6 for a glass of 100% organic wine at Islington, Canary Wharf and Battersea. During the same Saturday period, a child can eat free from the Little Grapes menu when an adult dines.[1][2] Weekday Wine O’Clock belongs to Canary Wharf, not Islington.[2]
Choose it for: a meal where the wine needs room to roam, a table before the theatre, or a Saturday lunch with children. The Friday bar stays open until midnight; Sunday closes at 10pm, with the kitchen closing at 9pm.[1]
2. Godet: Cantonese cooking on Essex Road
382 Essex Road, N1 3PF
Godet is on Essex Road and puts food in the middle of the plan. Ling Ling’s runs the kitchen, serving Cantonese-inspired dishes alongside the wine. The current menu includes items such as sesame prawn toast, poached king prawns and mapo radish, though menus can change with service.[3]
That makes Godet a useful choice when you do not want to divide an evening into drinks somewhere and dinner elsewhere. The kitchen sets a clear direction, so choose it if the table needs a food point of view as well as a wine list. The venue is open Wednesday from 5pm to 11pm, Thursday and Friday until midnight, Saturday from 3pm, and Sunday from 3pm to 9pm. It is closed Monday and Tuesday.[4]
Bookings are handled through SevenRooms.[4] If you are meeting from Angel, the walk along Essex Road is part of the route rather than a detour. Check the current menu before booking if a particular dish is the reason for your visit.
Choose it for: a booked evening where Cantonese-inspired plates are as central as the bottle.
3. Stable Wines: a cellar bar beneath Essex Road
344a Essex Road, N1 3PD
Stable Wines has two layers: a wine shop at street level and a cellar bar below, with food from Goodbye Horses.[5] Its own description frames the list as wine that is “fun, living and as close to zero-zero as possible”, with by-the-glass choices and an expansive cellar.[5] That language points to a low-intervention direction, not a promise that every bottle follows the same method.
You go below street level for the bar and kitchen, while the shop upstairs remains a separate reason to stop by. On Wednesday to Friday, the bar and kitchen run from 5pm, with food until 9.30pm. Saturday opens the bar from noon, but the kitchen starts at 5pm. Sunday is bar-only from 1pm to 8pm; the bar is closed on Mondays.[5]
For small groups, Stable Wines keeps things simple: groups of up to four are walk-in only. Tables for four or more open 30 days ahead through SevenRooms.[5] It is a helpful rule to know before you invite six people and assume a last-minute table will appear.
Choose it for: a downstairs glass, a midweek plate from the kitchen, or a group of four or more planned a month ahead.
4. Provisions: a wine and cheese shop that changes gear at night
167 Holloway Road, N7 8LX
Provisions began with a particular kind of cupboard in mind. Its Holloway Road shop, open since 2015, imports wine, cheese and pantry goods from artisan producers, with a stated focus on small natural and organic producers, mainly in France and Italy.[6] The shelves include wine alongside raw milk cheese, tinned fish and cured meats. It is a place to browse with dinner at home in view.
At night, the same address hosts TOPA, the venue’s pintxos bar. TOPA serves seasonal small plates with a natural-wine list and runs Wednesday to Saturday evenings, according to Provisions’ current venue information.[7] The split format is the point: go during shop hours for a bottle and cheese, or book the later service when you want the visit to become dinner.
This is not a full-scale restaurant room in the same mould as Humble Grape or Godet. It is a specialist shop with a defined evening service. That distinction helps if you want staff guidance on a bottle to take away, rather than a long table booking.
Choose it for: wine and cheese shopping, France-and-Italy-led shelves, or a midweek-to-Saturday pintxos table at TOPA.
5. Yield N1: pick the bottle first
97 St Paul’s Road, N1 2NA, Highbury
Yield N1 describes itself as a natural wine shop and bar. The Highbury branch is its N1 site, with a second shop in Stoke Newington.[8] The format gives you a different way to order: start by looking at the shelves, then ask about drinking in rather than approaching a conventional bar list first.
That makes Yield a good fit for someone who wants to take a bottle home but might stay for a glass. The team lists the Highbury opening hours as noon to 9pm Monday to Wednesday and Sunday, noon to 10pm Thursday, and noon to 11pm Friday and Saturday.[8] It is near Highbury Barn and a short walk from Highbury and Islington station, so it also works as a stop before a meal elsewhere.
Ask in person about drink-in and corkage terms. They are service details, and the current website does not set them out on the home page.[8]
Choose it for: browsing a natural-wine shop, choosing a bottle with help, or an early Highbury stop.
6. Top Cuvée: Blackstock Road bottles, food and bar tables
177B Blackstock Road, N4 2JS
Top Cuvée sits on Blackstock Road, between Highbury and Finsbury Park. It pours natural wine without turning the choice into a lesson, runs 2-for-1 drinks before 6pm and hands its kitchen to a changing line-up of resident chefs.[9] The bottle shop stays close: if you find something you love at the bar, you can order it from the same collection to drink at home.
Come here for the looseness. The Highbury restaurant opens Wednesday to Sunday, while the outdoor patio takes walk-ins every day. A resident chef may stay for days or weeks, so check who is cooking before you book.[9]
Choose it for: a bottle-shop stop that can turn into dinner near Finsbury Park.
7. Cadet: seasonal plates by Newington Green
57 Newington Green Road, N1 4QU
Cadet is a bistro and wine bar from importers Beattie and Roberts and charcutier George Jephson. The cave-à-manger kitchen writes a new menu each day, which means the bottle and the plate have to meet in real time rather than follow a fixed pairing script.[10]
Half the room stays free for walk-ins; reservations are for dining. That makes Cadet work in two ways: slip in for charcuterie and a glass, or book and let the daily menu lead the bottle. It sits on the green, north-east of Angel between Canonbury and Stoke Newington.[10]
Choose it for: seasonal cooking with a wine list, or dinner near Newington Green rather than central Islington.
How to choose a wine bar in Islington or North London
Start with the shape of the evening. For a full dinner, Humble Grape Islington, Godet, Top Cuvée and Cadet all put food on the table as part of the visit, though the food direction differs. Humble Grape has a full kitchen with a 500+ bottle range; Godet has Ling Ling’s Cantonese-inspired cooking; Top Cuvée joins restaurant, shop and bar; Cadet is built around seasonal plates.[1][3][9][10]
For a bottle-led stop, Provisions and Yield N1 are better places to begin. Provisions pairs its wine shelves with cheese and pantry goods, while Yield makes the shop format central.[6][8] Stable Wines is for the person who wants a cellar room and a by-the-glass choice, with a booking rule that favours planning for larger groups.[5]
Then check the day. Godet does not open Monday or Tuesday. Stable Wines has no bar service on Monday. TOPA runs in the evening from Wednesday to Saturday. Humble Grape Islington is open seven days, and its Sunday kitchen ends at 9pm.[1][4][5][7] For children, the specific Saturday option is Humble Grape Islington’s Wine O’Clock period from 12pm to 4.30pm, when Kids Eat Free applies with an adult dining.[1][2]
The wine language matters too. Natural, organic and biodynamic do not mean the same thing, and venues use their own terms. Treat each bar’s description as a starting point for a conversation with the team. A good first question is simple: tell them what you have eaten, what you like to drink, and whether you want a glass now or a bottle for the table.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best wine bars in Islington?
Humble Grape Islington, Godet, Stable Wines and Provisions are all in Islington or on its immediate edges. Each serves a different plan: full dinner, Cantonese-inspired food, a cellar bar, or a wine-and-cheese shop with TOPA in the evening.[1][3][5][6][7]
Where can I eat dinner with wine near Angel?
Humble Grape Islington is a few minutes from Angel and runs a full kitchen. Godet and Stable Wines sit further along Essex Road, while Cadet is near Newington Green.[1][3][5][10]
Which Islington wine bar has a large wine list?
Humble Grape Islington has 500+ wines bought direct from small, family-run producers, alongside a full kitchen.[1]
Is there a Saturday wine offer in Islington?
Yes. Humble Grape Islington’s Wine O’Clock runs on Saturdays from 12pm to 4.30pm. A glass of 100% organic wine costs £6. During that window, Kids Eat Free applies from the Little Grapes menu when an adult dines.[1][2]
Can I walk into Stable Wines?
Groups of up to four are walk-in only at Stable Wines. Parties of four or more can reserve from 30 days ahead.[5]
Where can I buy a bottle to take home in North London?
Provisions, Yield N1 and Top Cuvée all operate shop formats alongside their wine-led hospitality offers.[6][8][9]
Is Humble Grape Islington dog-friendly?
Yes. Dogs are welcome inside and outside at Humble Grape Islington.[1]
About James Dawson
James Dawson is the founder of Humble Grape. He started the business by delivering wine by motorbike before work and running pop-up tastings. Humble Grape now has seven London wine bars and kitchens.
Sources
- Humble Grape Islington: address, venue format, opening and kitchen hours, food, 500+ wines, pre-theatre offer, dog policy, booking, Saturday offer and Sunday Roast. Accessed 6 August 2026.
- Humble Grape Wine O’Clock: £6 organic wine, Saturday venues and hours, weekday Canary Wharf terms, and Kids Eat Free condition. Accessed 6 August 2026.
- Godet food menu: Ling Ling’s food at Godet. Accessed 6 August 2026.
- Godet: Essex Road address, hours and booking link. Accessed 6 August 2026.
- Stable Wines, About: address, wine description, shop, bar and kitchen hours, and reservation policy. Accessed 6 August 2026.
- Provisions, About: Holloway Road shop, importer background and wine-and-cheese range. Accessed 6 August 2026.
- Provisions Holloway Road and TOPA: TOPA format and service information. Accessed 6 August 2026.
- Yield London: natural wine shop and bar format, Highbury location and opening hours. Accessed 6 August 2026.
- Top Cuvée and reservations: Blackstock Road venue, happy hour, rotating guest kitchen, shop, opening and booking information. Accessed 6 August 2026.
- Cadet: Newington Green location, owners, daily-changing kitchen, walk-in policy, hours and booking information. Accessed 6 August 2026.
