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London restaurants with the best deals on corkage
Last month a restaurant in Notting Hill became the centre of a heated debate when it raised its corkage fee to £100 per bottle. db cherry-picks eight of the most reasonable restaurants in the city for BYOB.
Dorian, in Notting Hill, has since June imposed a £100 corkage charge on diners (up from £25), allowing one 75cl bottle to be consumed at your table, on the assurance that you also purchase at least one bottle from their wine list (which starts at around £50 per bottle).
In a post on Instagram, Dorian’s owners explained: “Our business is not sustainable on food sales along. Enough guests try to game the system by rolling up with multiple bottles, to extract the lowest cost experience for themselves with complete disregard and respect of the fact that it’s financially impossible to put out our quality of food, using superior produce and offering the best quality of life to the best young talent in London, without the sales of wine.”
It has re-ignited a long-running debate on the merits of offering corkage, a battle fought between two extremes; greedy restaurateurs trying to cash in on patrons (rarely the case), or inconsiderate diners that are abusing corkage privileges to the detriment of restaurateurs (most simply want to enjoy a rare, special bottle they’ve had cellared, in an equally special setting).
Some branded Dorian’s change in policy “insane”, while others were more sympathetic.
In truth, most diners aren’t looking to abuse corkage policies, and most restaurants aren’t trying to gouge consumers on corkage charges, but a happy medium can be difficult to strike, and it often rests upon a restaurant’s individual model.
“It’s easy to look at people who have very stringent corkage policies and be judgemental about it but quite often wine margins are incredibly important to a restaurant business and if it is a smaller restaurant this can become problematic if it is over-used,” says Liam Davy, head of bars at Hawksmoor, which offers £5 corkage on Mondays.
Offering corkage can be a great way of maintaining customer loyalty, raising footfall and consumer satisfaction. The problem comes when corkage is taken for granted or misused – diners who bring an excessive number of bottles or ones that could have been purchased from a restaurant’s wine list.
“We believe corkage charges should be affordable and valuable in restaurants and have designed our policy to be not only appealing but also beneficial to us as a business,” adds Melanie Brown, founder of The Laundry, a bustling all-day dining venue in the heart of Brixton. “We charge a flat rate of £20 per bottle (every day except Tuesday when it is free) as whilst on occasion it might not meet the margin we might make from the wine list, having this strengthens our offering as it not only appeals to wine aficionados it encourages them (we also have a guaranteed food spend).”
Restaurants, like every other business, have been hit hard by inflation, and with margins being squeezed across the board, relinquishing profits made on wine is more than some business are prepared to absorb. The vast majority of licensed restaurants don’t allow corkage at all. So for those that do the practice should be mutually beneficial.
Fortunately, there are many restaurants across London that offer great deals on corkage, and have found a balance that is sustainable for their business. There’s also restaurants that don’t have an alcohol license, and are most likely to offer free corkage, but with no option of a wider alcoholic drinks list.
Big, small, licensed on not, we’ve rounded up some of the best places in London to Bring Your Own.
1. Hawksmoor, various locations
Hawksmoor offers a £5 corkage fee on Mondays, and £25 at all other times. That’s £25 per cork – the bottle can be any size and in any quantity. “We try to err on the side of generosity and have always encouraged guests to use our £5 corkage on Mondays (any format!) to enjoy Hawksmoor as a place to enjoy bringing in a bottle of their own,” adds Davy. “We don’t do a lot of corkage outside of this but are always happy to accommodate requests as by-and-large we find this stance encourages people to come back more often and people tend to by something else from the list as well.”
2. Little Georgia, Hackney
This traditional Georgian restaurant had long offered free corkage as it does not carry an alcohol license (unlike its larger Islington-based sister site). It now charges £5 for every order under £25. The owner, Tiko Tuskadze, has spoken about the decision, saying that it was customers who would order minimal food but then spend hours drinking their own wines that, in the end, forced his hand.
3. The Laundry, Brixton
This all day bistro and wine shop stands inside a former commercial steam press laundry, dating back to 1904. It was brought back to life as a bustling restaurant by entrepreneur Melanie Brown in 2019, who also happens to be a wine expert and the brains behind new world wine retailer Specialist Cellars. “We’ve designed our list small and concise as we realised early on we can’t meet the demand of the many facets of wine preferences,” adds Brown. “We use our corkage policy as a way to market our restaurant to the high brow winos and offer up a space where they spend nicely on food and they get to enjoy wine pre selected by themselves for little cost, in a restaurant environment.” Corkage is free on Tuesdays, otherwise £20 a bottle.
4. Marie’s Cafe, Waterloo
An unassuming and humble cafe located round the corner from Waterloo. It’s a proper British greasy spoon-turned-Thai eatery that places as much emphasis on fried egg and chips as it does chicken pad Thai and som tam salad. Corkage is £1 per bottle Monday to Saturday – dinner only.
5. Gaucho, various locations
Gaucho is a Mecca for fine Argentine wines (which we’d also encourage you to delve into), but it also offers a tempting deal on corkage. Free on Mondays and £35 per bottle at all other times.
6. Tayyabs, Whitechapel
For those who frequent this East End curry house, Tayyabs is something of a London institution. Founded in 1972, it serves up authentic Punjabi cuisine to its loyal regulars, which is heightened by its free corkage policy, all week, at anytime, for any bottle you desire.
7. Paolina Thai Cafe, King’s Cross
Hidden away near King’s Cross station is Paolina’s Thai Cafe, a family-run restaurant offering authentic and affordable Thai cuisine. Known for its homestyle cooking and welcoming atmosphere, the café serves a variety of traditional Thai dishes and is a little-known haven for BYOB dining. They don’t sell alcohol, but charge £2 per person for those bringing their own bottles.
8. Frog by Adam Handling, Covent Garden
A contemporary British restaurant and the flagship location in chef Adam Handling’s growing stable of fine dining establishments. The restaurant maintains a focus on sustainability, prioritising seasonal British ingredients and has a zero-waste philosophy. So far as corkage goes, it’s recently updated its policy. Diners can now bring their own bottles during lunch time service at no extra cost, while the dinner corkage charge has also been reduced to £25 a bottle.
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