Wiltshire gastro-pub to open new wine shop

The team behind successful Wiltshire ‘super-pub’ The Beckford Arms is set to open a wine shop in Tisbury next month.

The Beckford Bottle Shop, which opens on Tisbury High Street in mid-December, is part of a “natural extension” of the business which has been in planning for six months, director Charlie Luxton told the drinks business. 

Luxton, former operations manager at Soho House, and his business partner Dan Brod, who also worked at the private member club, opened  upmarket country pub The Beckford Arms in Tisbury in 2009. It was named UK Dining Pub of the Year 2013 by The Good Pub Guide and they opened their second venture, The Talbot Inn in Mells in the same year, bringing former general manager of Babington House hotel and health club Matt Greenlees, on board.

Entrepreneur Nick Jones, owner of Babington House and chief executive of Soho House UK, is also an investor and silent parter in the business.

The 500sq ft shop will stock 300 wines from around the world – with a slight bias towards the Old World – along with a range of craft beers and premium spirit. Suppliers include Enotria, New Zealand specialist Red & White and The Vintner in London, among others.

Retail will take up around 75% of the space with the remaining 25% of the shop floor being devoted to a tasting area comprising a large sofa, tables and plenty of seating and music to make the buying process less intimidating. The shop will also serve tasters and wines by the glass, along with platters of charcuterie and cheese.

However Luxton said that while the shop will be a place where people are comfortable to sit down, it was still “fundamentally a wine shop” rather than a café.

“We’re trying to make the space less confusing for customers,” he told db. “In a shop you have a large wall of wine, but we are concentrating on making the buying a simpler procedure. It won’t be too crammed with bottles so customers can comfortably sit and not be overwhelmed.”

The shop will also use The Beckford Arms to host tasting events and evenings, and will give bar staff the opportunity to extend their wine knowledge through in-house training on the shop floor, Luxton said.

The team are currently in the final stages of recruiting a retail manager to run the shop.