The Bar That Put Natural Wine on the Map in London Has Closed for Good

London’s original natural wine bar — Terroirs, a subterranean venue close to Trafalgar Square in the centre of the city — will close permanently after 13 years.

“It is with a very heavy heart, but also a lot of happy memories, that we have taken the tough decision to close the doors at Terroirs Central, for good,” the owners announced on Instagram last night. “It has been an amazing journey, and we have made so many friends along the way. We’d like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last 13 years…from our amazing team to our beautiful guests, we literally couldn’t have done it without you!”

It marks the end of an era for a business that kicked off one of the biggest and most iterated trends in hospitality over the last decade. The reasons for the closure have not yet been disclosed.

Founder and managing director Eric Narioo helped spawn a generation of terroir and low-intervention obsessed wine buyers and drinkers, which itself brought about a new kind of relaxed, simple European cuisine and style of irreverent hospitality. After Terroirs came Brawn, Ed Wilson and Josie Stead’s outstanding Mediterranean restaurant on Columbia Road, which was initially backed by Narioo and the Caves team.

Later, there was Soif in Battersea and Terroirs in East Dulwich. Both remain, as the owners also announced in the Instagram post. “For anyone panicking about charcuterie withdrawal, or a natural wine fix, rest assured that Terroirs East Dulwich and Soif (Battersea) will continue to trade as normal and the teams there, supplemented by some familiar faces from central,” it said.

But as well as the continued existence of both of those south London venues, and the many Caves des Pyrene wines in bars and restaurants across the city, it’s the very idea of the modern London European wine that can be traced back to Terroirs. A legacy that will live on not just through Brawn, but 40 Maltby Street, P. Franco, Westerns Laundry, The Winemakers Club, the soon-to-open Hector’s, and no doubt many more too.

Eater has contacted the owners for comment.