Marylebone Wine Bar Vinoteca Shuts Permanently, Says Focus Is on ‘Larger’ Sites

Vinoteca, the reliable six-site wine bar group which emerged in London in 2005, has announced the permanent closure of its premises in Seymour Place, Marylebone. Its final service will be 10 June, 2022, as the owners of the group say they are looking to focus on expansion to sites outside of London and to concentrate on “larger” all-day venues like the one recently opened in Borough Yards.

Charlie Young, Vinoteca’s co-founder, said the group had enjoyed 12 “fantastic” years in Marylebone. “The locals welcomed us with open arms back in 2010 when it was only our second site, and we’ve had a great time serving the area.”

It leaves the group with sites in King’s Cross, Farringdon, the City, Chiswick, and new sites in Birmingham, as well as the one at the Borough Yards development which opened in February of this year.

Young said the closure came as a result of a change in business strategy, and stopped short of pointing directly at the recent rise in costs and the hangover from both Brexit and the pandemic. “As we’ve looked to grow, the model of the business has moved towards larger venues where we’ve had the chance to showcase what we do in an all-day setting,” he said. “The new-style Vinoteca openings means we can bring that to more people.”

The group said that all staff from the Marylebone site were being offered roles in one of the six other sites.

Central to the plans for the closure is looking after the Vinoteca staff, all of whom are being offered a place in one of the group’s six other sites.

“Whilst we’ll hugely miss Marylebone, the great thing about where we are as a company is that we have the ability to keep those fantastic team members who have put huge amounts of energy into the wine bar and make it the local favourite it has been,” co-founder Brett Woonton said. Sites in Borough and Birmingham meant “there’s plenty of opportunity to retain staff, keep training them up in wine and hospitality, and look for chances to promote,” Woonton added.

The last time Vinoteca closed a site in London came in 2018 when its Beak Street restaurant fell victim to rising rents and restrictions placed on its license in Soho.