A roundup of the London bars and restaurants hosting celebratory meals and wine tastings for Beaujolais Nouveau Day 2025
Photographed by Chio Photography
Head to Gordon’s Wine Bar’s hallowed vaults for a fortifying full-English Beaujolais breakfast
Le beaujolais nouveau est arrivé! Well, nearly. For the uninitiated, Beaujolais Nouveau Day is a festival that began in the Beaujolais region of France in 1951 when, at the stroke of midnight on the third Thursday in November, beaujolais nouveau wine is officially released for consumption. The tradition quickly spread, adding to its observance a frantic international scramble, hurtling into Burgundy in time nab one of the first bottles – or barrels – for a taste of the new harvest.
Today, Fête du Beaujolais Nouveau is celebrated all over London, with wine bars, shops and restaurants hosting tastings, dinners and, in the spirit of that race for a first sip, even beaujolais breakfasts.
No, really. For those keen to down the first drops – but not, say, keen enough to make a cross-Channel sprint – you can bagsy an early taste by doing a cross-borough dash to enjoy a glass with your brekkie. Tradition is tradition, after all. And as one who is firmly in favour of making a Beaujolais Nouveau Day-of-it, I’ll see my fellow stalwarts under the breakfast table for a slightly sloshy cheers and not entirely rousing attempt at La Marseillaise.
If you’d rather not be half-cut by 11am on a Thursday (fair – categorically no fun, but fair), there are plenty of options around town for beaujy lunch and dinner, as well as tastings throughout the day and evening. Consider it your first festive tipple of the season.
However you decide to mark the occasion, santé and vive le beaujolais!
Gordon’s Wine Bar (Embankment)
Real ones looking to proceed with proceedings ante meridiem can head to the vinous institution that is Gordon’s for the infamous Beaujolais Nouveau Breakfast. From 8am London’s oldest wine bar will be pouring this year’s yield alongside a full English (and plenty of coffee) to bolster intrepid drinkers against a celebratory midday hangover. Reserve a table in Gordon’s candlelit subterranean vaults, or outside if you prefer your morning glass of red with a view of Victoria Embankment Gardens. For the chronically responsible, it’ll be serving the new vintage throughout the month at more customary drinking times.
47 Villiers Street, WC2N 6NE; breakfast 8-11am; reservations at gordonswinebar.com
Galvin Bistrot & Bar in Spitalfields will be serving French fare all day – is it even 9am if you haven’t washed your croque monsieur down with a glass of youthful red?
Galvin Bistrot & Bar (Spitalfields)
If the prospect of trad British fare doesn’t tempt you into getting your beauj on before lunchtime, what if I put it to you… in a French accent? Galvin Bistrot & Bar is serving beaujolais breakfast en français – croque madame/monsieur, Toulouse sausage roll, truffled eggs, pastries etc. Later there’s a set lunch and dinner menu featuring terrine, bavette steak and frites, and apple tarte tatin. I can personally recommend kicking off your Thursday with a béchamel-baptised ham toastie and a glass of vibrant young red, followed by a rosy-cheeked toddle round Spitalfields Market.
Breakfast à la carte (8:15-10:30am), lunch (11:45am-2:30pm) and dinner (5:30-9:15pm), £35pp; booking via galvinrestaurants.com
Davy’s Wine Bars (City, Covent Garden, Greenwich)
Davy’s truly has Beaujolais Nouveau Day covered. You can book in for a necessarily squiffy breakfast at Factory House in the City or the Crusting Pipe in the heart of Covent Garden Market, or nip over to Greenwich for a full-on party in Vintners Yard. It’s an informal, “walk around” kind of affair (wobbling around may also occur) with bottles of the 10 crus open for tasting as well as plenty of the new beauj on the block – bien sûr – plus small bites, live music and other celebratory shenanigans.
Vintners Yard, Waller Way, SE10 8JA; beaujolais event 5.30-8pm, £45pp; all bookings here
La Compagnie (Covent Garden)
Under the headline “all magnums, all night”, this charming two-storey wine bar tucked away in Covent Garden’s Neal’s Yard is marking the occasion with Wine & Dine Vol. 11: Do you know the way to Beaujolais? – an evening of food, music and a succession of satisfyingly large bottles pouring the best of this year’s beaujolais nouveau. Expect a seasonal menu of Mediterranean flavours, including dishes that give a warm nod to French fare, and plenty of interesting, hard-to-find, small-producer wines to stick your snout into.
8-10 Neal’s Yard, London WC2H 9DP; Wine & Dine Vol. 11, 5pm until close; book here
La Fromagerie’s cheese and wine bar in Marylebone will host a Beaujolais supper, complete with cheese board
La Fromagerie (Marylebone, Bloomsbury, Highbury)
While enormous fans of Beaujolais Nouveau Day, this artisanal cheesemonger favours beaujolais of the villages variety, which is more on the sophisticated side than its new baby sister, and so it’s marking the occasion at its Marylebone site with a supper and villages by the bottle or glass. On the menu is a poached-egg and lardons salad or escargot anglais, boeuf bourguignon with pommes purée, a Fromagerie cheese board and apple tarte tatin. Its Bloomsbury restaurant, meanwhile, will be serving a menu of Burgundy classics and Highbury will host a celebratory cheese and wine tasting.
2-4 Moxon Street, W1U 4EW; beaujolais supper 7.30-9pm, from £60pp; book here
Top Cuvée (Highbury, Shoreditch)
This hip bottle-shop-cum-neighbourhood-restaurant is throwing lively “le harvest” parties at its Highbury and Shoreditch sites. The four-course set menu is a symphony of seasonal flavours with French flair, including Toulouse sausage with puy lentils, delica pumpkin with goat curd and hazelnut brown butter, and apple tarte tatin. If you’re Beau Nouv-ing on the move, the Shoreditch spot will be offering a Happy Hour deal on Beaujolais Nouveau accompanied by Top Cuvée’s famous, fabulously loaded hot dogs.
177B Blackstock Road, N5 2LL; dinner from 6pm, £65pp for the set menu; book here
The Royal Oak (Marylebone)
If a neighbourhood pub sesh is more your style, throughout the day this exemplar of the form will be serving the new vintage by the glass all day, as well as other crus for those inclined to take a tour of the Beaujolais region in liquid form. Swing by for one or stake your claim on a cosy booth and pair your wine with elevated pub grub (do I want my goblet of youthful gamay with a side of truffle and parmesan triple-cooked chips, yes I do).
74-76 York Street, W1H 1QN; theroyaloakmarylebone.com
Opt for Amélie to celebrate with wine and charcuterie in airy, sophisticated surroundings
Photograph by David Post
Kick back at Le Beaujolais and drink in the authentic, easy-going vibes (and a glass of nouveau or two)
Amélie (Belgravia)
Should an evening of cheese and wine, enjoyed while ensconced in the epitome of contemporary Provençal chic take your fancy, this sophisticated Motcomb Street spot is offering exactly that (from Thursday until Sunday, because why wouldn’t you want to keep the Beaujolais Nouveau Day celebrations going). Wrangle a few of your finest pals and book in to share a bottle of beaujolais, freshly arrived from the vineyards of Cercié, perfectly paired with the chef’s selection of French cheeses and charcuterie, along with grapes and assorted crackers. A delightfully elegant option.
19 Motcomb Street, SW1X 8LB; from 12pm, £55 for a bottle and cheeseboard; book here
Dan’s (Dalston)
Throwing another curveball into the mix, head to this happening little wine spot for a Beaujolais bash with a difference. Eschewing the new harvest’s youthful flavour profile in favour of something with a bit more age and oomph, this is a celebration dedicated to “beaujolais ancien”, with more than 20 wines flowing freely throughout, including all 10 crus and a variety of vintages. For those whose constitution usually taps out around the 15-wine mark, fortifying pools of creamy raclette will be on hand to see you through to the last drop.
2-4 Tottenham Road, N1 4BZ; from 6pm, £60pp; book here
Noble Rot (Bloomsbury)
Last, but far from least is Noble Rot’s infamous Fête du Beaujolais. Dinner is a four-course menu featuring native oyster and pig’s trotter terrine, wild fowl and foie gras wellington, and Cantonese steamed turbot with spinach and cockle escabeche – accompanied by a specially curated wine list, naturellement. More casual Rotters can gather outside the bar for a merry scrum of tastings from Beaujolais’ finest producers pouring their wares. Sharpen your elbows and gather round, glass aloft to catch samples from roving bottles, as they talk the assembled throng through what you’re sipping.
51 Lamb’s Conduit Street, WC1N 3NB; walk-up tasting 4:30-7pm; dinner from 6pm, £125pp (excl dinks); book here
Le Beaujolais (Soho)
It’s all in the name, folks. Where better to observe this finest of traditions than at the place with its very name over the door. Le Beaujolais is a wonderfully rustic wine bar – and an institution in its own right. A little slice of France in the centre of London, with bags of character and a passionate dedication to French terroir. Beaujolais Nouveau Day here is a fun and casual affair – stroll in for a glass and bite from the special lunch menu, and soak up the friendly, authentic atmosphere.
25 Litchfield Street, WC2H 9NJ; lebeaujolais.london
