The best wine bars in Brighton are across the city and to a mile west along Church Road and Western Road in Hove. Brighton and Hove sits in the middle of English wine country and it draws exactly the kind of small, opinionated, independent places that take wine seriously.
These are the wine bars Luke and I go to on an evening out in Brighton and Hove. We have favourite wine bars for different occasions and times, and we share all of that in our guide here.
If you want the vineyards themselves rather than the city, we’ve written a separate guide to the vineyards near Brighton — twelve Sussex estates, several of which you can reach by train.
The Best Wine Bars in Brighton and Hove
1. The Wine Barrel, Hove
Bottle shop turned wine bar with a handful of outside seats, and small enough that you’ll be talking to whoever’s working. Still lesser known than the other bars on Church Road, which is part of the appeal. The outside benches are on the sunny side of the road. The only downside is this is a busy part of the street with buses passing. Archipelago’s restaurant next door is a great pre or post-wine food option.
Google Maps: 122–123 Western Road, Hove BN3 1DB
2. Stem, Hove
Chef-led British food and a very good wine list, with low-intervention bottles alongside the classics. It’s in the Michelin Guide and fairly new in town. Stem is on the sunny side of the road, but there are only a few outside seats. In summer, get there by 4:30pm if you want one!
They’ve also put Sussex wine front and centre before: for English Wine Week they poured a list chosen by wine expert Maddy Riches featuring Roebuck, Bee Tree, Highweald, Bolney, Albourne and Nutbourne.
Google Maps: 41 Church Road, Hove BN3 2FN
3. Plateau, Brighton
Plateau has been pouring natural wine in Brighton since around 2010, making it the OG. We go for the wine, the bread and butter, the olives and whatever small plates are on that week. The cocktails are good too and it placed nineteenth in Brighton’s 2026 cocktail bar awards.
I love the setting: it sits at the bottom of Bartholomews, directly opposite the Town Hall, a beautiful building to look across on. Luke is less keen on Plateau, and finds the staff a bit standoffish, which to be fair they can be in you’re comparing to the incredibly friendly owners at the Wine Barrel and Stem.
Google Maps: 1 Bartholomews, Brighton BN1 1HG
4. The Well, Hove
A stone’s throw from Stem and the better bet if you’re a small group who all want to sit outside, because there’s more seating. Even though it’s on the shady side of the street, seats fill up fast on a weekend evening. Natural wine focus, bottle shop and bar in one, snacks rather than a full kitchen.
Google Maps: 77-78 Western Road, Hove BN3 2JQ
There is a second Well over in Kemptown, at 102 St George’s Road, and it is arguably the better of the two. Same hours and the same natural wine and bottle-shop setup, but a bigger, more furnished room — slouchy leather sofas, G-Plan tables, Moroccan rugs and a lot of plants — and hundreds of beers alongside the wine. If you are staying in Kemptown rather than Hove, go to that one.
Google Maps: 102 St George’s Road, Brighton BN2 1EA
5. Fourth & Church, Hove
The posh one. Not stuffy, but a step up from the others. It’s a restaurant, wine bar and shop combined, with wines poured straight off the shelves and what they claim is the south coast’s largest sherry collection.
I like it best in autumn and winter. It’s cosy in a way the summer places aren’t, and it’s a brilliant spot for a glass in the evening after work, or after one of those chilly seafront walks where you can’t feel your hands. Grace Dent has been nice about it in the Guardian, if you want a second opinion.
They also run masterclasses and private tastings in a dedicated tasting room — worth asking about if there are a few of you.
Google Maps: 84 Church Road, Hove BN3 2EB
6. Ten Green Bottles, Brighton
Very much a winter place for us. It’s inside seating only, big farmhouse tables, and the whole feel is autumn-and-onwards rather than summer. Cheese and charcuterie rather than proper dinner. Lovely on a dark evening. A solid central Brighton option.
Google Maps: 9 Jubilee Street, Brighton BN1 1GE
7. Vine Street Tap, Brighton
We used to drink here a lot and don’t so much now — because it’s got so busy and it’s tiny. In summer people spill out and sit on the kerb. It’s in the Lanes, but not on one of the pretty streets, so the vibe is more hipster, converted garage on a backstreet. Personally I’m not spending £9 on a glass of wine to sit on a kerb. Go on a random Wednesday or Thursday rather than a Friday or Saturday night to get a seat and enjoy your wine.
They run tiramisu and wine nights, the natural wines and the quirkier bottles on the menu are very good, and inside is lovely. The space is small, so it works far better for couples than for groups. Worth knowing it’s beer-led as well as wine-led — it’s the brewery tap for Good Things Brewing.
Google Maps: 13-16 Vine Street, Brighton BN1 4AG
8. Patio, Brighton
The one on our list we still haven’t got to, right by Brighton station. It opened in late 2025 and it’s small, candlelit and natural-wine-focused, and it runs a rotating chef residency so the food changes every few weeks. The reason it’s on the list: its house pours have included Titch Hill, a Sussex winery near Worthing. Patio is owned Luke Williams of Vine Street Tap.
Google Maps: 1 Surrey Street, Brighton BN1 3PA
9. The Vine House, Kemptown
The new wine bar in town, and the most ambitious wine opening Brighton has had in years. It arrived in June 2026 in the old Arcobaleno site, and it is a bottle shop and restaurant in one rather than a bar.
It comes from Tim Hall and Marc Wise, who run the Brighton wine shop 9 Vines, with the kitchen in partnership with Wild Flor in Hove. There are around 400 wines in stock and a self-service machine pouring unusual glasses from £2 samples.
There is a library ladder for reaching the top shelves, and the big south-facing garden is planted with Rathfinny Chardonnay vines. Drinking Sussex wine while sitting next to Sussex vines is about as on-brand as this city gets.
Google Maps: 118–120 St George’s Road, Brighton BN2 1EA
10. Outgrown, Elm Grove
The newest wine bar to make this list, and the one we know least about, because we have not been yet. Another spot co-owned by Luke Williams of Vine Street Tap and Patio.
Outgrown is a small neighbourhood bar that has appeared on Elm Grove, up in Hanover, in what used to be a barber’s shop. It has no website and no press coverage yet, and barely any reviews — what there is describes a short, inventive wine and cocktail list and friendly staff, with one reviewer calling it “a place you don’t want to tell friends about as it will get too popular.”
Elm Grove has never had a wine bar. Hanover is pubs, and a good glass of wine has always meant walking down the hill, so we’re excited to check it out.
Google Maps: 24 Elm Grove, Brighton BN2 3DD
11. Curio, Preston Circus
We go to Curio a lot, mostly because our friends live up here and it is the obvious place to meet them. It is on the corner of Clyde Road at Preston Circus, tucked behind The Joker and a minute from the Duke of York’s.
Be warned that it is on a main road and the seating is not the comfiest in Brighton. But it is laid back in a way that makes you stay longer than you meant to, and for wine it is hands down the best option in this part of town.
The wine is the reason to come. There is wine on tap alongside more than thirty by the glass, taking in natural, organic, biodynamic and orange, and the list rotates quarterly. You can have a container refilled to take home. There are tastings on the first Thursday of the month. It is really an all-day cafe-bar rather than a pure wine bar — a collaboration between Curio Wine, Curing Rebels for the British charcuterie, the Flour Pot for pastries and the Milk Shed for coffee — so the sharing plates and charcuterie are a cut above what a wine bar usually manages.
Open: Monday 8am–3pm, Tuesday to Thursday 8am–10pm, Friday and Saturday 8am–11pm, Sunday 9am–7pm.
Google Maps: 1 Clyde Road, Brighton BN1 4NN
Wine Tasting in Brighton: Where To Book One
There’s a difference between a wine tasting and a nice evening in a wine bar, and Brighton does both well. If you want a proper sit-down tasting with someone talking you through it, these are your options.
Ten Green Bottles
The most straightforward answer to “where can I do a wine tasting in Brighton”, and the wine bar with the clearest published prices. They’ve been going since 2007, they’re a shop and a bar in one, and they run tastings for groups at reasonable rates.
Costs: Weekend Wine Masterclass £27.50pp. Private Wine Tasting with six wines and a qualified host £35pp. There’s a Vegan Wine Tasting at £35pp, which is a nicer touch than it sounds — a lot of wine is fined with animal products and you wouldn’t realise. Cheese and Wine Tasting £40pp, or Sparkling Wine Tasting for Two at £40pp including half a bottle of Champagne.
Google Maps: 9 Jubilee Street, Brighton BN1 1GE
The Wine Barrel, Hove
This is our local, and it’s the one I’d send you to for a Sussex-specific tasting. Wine tastings are hosted on evenings every now and then, advertised on a board out front. We did one built entirely around Sussex vineyards, which was good fun.
Google Maps: 122-123 Western Road, Hove BN3 1DB
Butler’s Wine Cellar
Brighton’s oldest independent wine merchant — going since 1979 — and they’ll build a tasting around whatever you want, including English wine if you ask.
Costs: £25–£65pp depending on the wines, minimum ten people. Themed Friday tastings with food run £25–£50pp. Private corporate tastings from £200 locally.
Google Maps: 88 St Georges Road, Brighton BN2 1EA
Quaff
Two shops, one in Hove and one in Brighton, and the best-published tasting calendar in the city. Their 2026 autumn programme includes Orange Wine (24 September), Germanic Wine (8 October), Italy (22 October) and a Christmas tasting in December. Prices aren’t listed online — you book by phone.
Google Maps: 139-141 Portland Road, Hove BN3 5QJ
If you want the formal version…
Sussex Local Wine School runs proper WSET qualifications out of Hotel du Vin on Ship Street — evening tastings from £40, Saturday wine lunches £125, and WSET Level 1 at £250 or Level 2 at £595 if you want the certificate. Hotel du Vin itself does tastings from £32.95pp for five glasses, minimum two guests.
If you want to taste wines out of the vines themselves, check out our vineyards near Brighton guide.
Where To Drink Sussex Wine in Brighton
If you’ve come to Brighton because you want English wine specifically, this is the shortlist. Sussex makes some of the best sparkling wine in the world and a surprising number of city bars still pour Prosecco, so it’s worth knowing where to go.
- The Wine Barrel — stocks Sussex vineyards by the bottle, and runs the occasional Sussex-focused tasting evening
- Patio — has poured Titch Hill, from just outside Worthing
- Stem — has featured a six-producer Sussex list
- terre à terre in the Lanes does a Sussex wine pairing, three courses with three English wines, and pours Artelium
- Rockwater on Hove seafront serves fish and chips with Wiston Blanc de Blancs, and runs a monthly Wine & Cheese Club
- English’s in the Lanes pairs oysters with Rathfinny
- Bohemia and Cecconi’s both pour Ridgeview Bloomsbury
Our own go-to Sussex bottle, for what it’s worth, is Artelium’s Pinot Gris. Their whites are the best thing they make and it’s what we buy to take home every time.
Is Brighton Good for Wine?
Brighton is great for wine, and better than it gets credit for. It took a while for the wine scene to take off here, but now it’s booming. Brighton has the two things that matter: a cluster of small independent bars run by people who care, and a world-class wine region twenty minutes up the road.
Where To Stay in Brighton and Hove
Almost everything on this list is in Hove or the Brighton Lanes, so staying central saves you a taxi at the end of the night. Here is what is bookable nearby:
Keep Exploring Sussex
- Want the vineyards themselves? Our guide to the best vineyards near Brighton, including which you can reach by train.
- Eating out among the vines? The Sussex vineyards with restaurants worth the drive.
- Staying over? The best vineyard stays in Sussex.
- Planning a weekend here? Read our weekend in Brighton guide, written by locals.
Brighton Wine Bars and Tastings FAQ
Ten Green Bottles is the most straightforward answer, because it has the clearest published options and prices, starting at £27.50 per person. For something Sussex-specific, The Wine Barrel in Hove runs occasional tasting evenings built entirely around local vineyards, which is the thing we’d send you to if you want to taste where you are.
A group tasting at a Brighton bar or shop typically costs between £27.50 and £40 per person, which usually gets you five or six wines and someone talking you through them. Formal WSET courses start at around £250, and vineyard tours out in Sussex run £27.50 to £40 per person.
It depends on the season. Stem or The Well are the ones we’d pick in summer for the outside seating, Fourth & Church or Ten Green Bottles once it’s cold and you want to be indoors, and The Wine Barrel in Hove year-round if you want somewhere small, local and not yet busy.
Yes, you can drink Sussex wine in Brighton, but you have to pick your venue, because plenty of good bars here will pour you something from the Loire and not have a single local bottle open. The Wine Barrel, Stem, Patio, terre à terre, Rockwater and English’s are the reliable ones.
Yes, you need to book for tastings, because most run on set dates and the group ones need numbers confirmed in advance. For the wine bars you don’t need to book, but Stem and The Well fill their outside tables early on a sunny day, so arrive by 4.30pm in summer if sitting outside matters to you.