The City Beverage Company

Alright. I’m going to be the first to break the streak. These guys used to be far and away 5 star. then about half a year ago, they sold to the Amathus group (or corporation?). Probably a good thing for someone, but not the consumer and I would guess not the staff.
Since the sale, it just doesn’t have the same soul. Not a terrible thing, but the real injustice is that the wine selection has dipped and the beer selection has certainly dropped (although it has gotten a bit better).
Still probably your best bet for good beer in the area, but unfortunately a half pour of what it was.

Blink and you’ll miss it. Great selection of both spirits and wines. Be nice and maybe they’ll take you in back w/​all the tequilas and mezcals.

More than booze!
Also a huge selection of teas, coffees (whole bean and otherwise) and snacks, cordials, juices, mixers, snacks (did I mention snacks!?).
Oh, and a LOT of booze. Booze that will make your pals wonder where you’ve gotten such good and unique taste. This place is the best.
City Beverage or bust — I can finally drink again, it’s on.

The best wine shop in east London, and believe me I have tried a few. Stuart and Brian the shop owners are friendly and extremely knowledgeable they always steer me in the right direction for whatever occasion. I love that they stock small family vineyard wines, I have tried quite a few and have never been disappointed. Friday nights is wine tasting night, it is free and fantastic fun, you also get to meet some interesting people. Armed with my various bottles I am very popular at dinner parties without breaking the bank! Great old fashioned service on my doorstep.

I love wine, actually I really love wine (and like to think of myself as a bit of an expert after all the practice I have put in). In my opinion there really is no better place to go than City Beverage on Old Street for a great selection competitively priced. They give you fantastic advice and are very knowledgeable. Whenever I have a dinner party this is where I always buy my wine, my favourite person is Stuart (one of the owners), what he does not know about wine isn’t worth knowing! I tell him what I am cooking and he advises me which wines will suit best, and tells me all about the vineyard and the region. This never fails to impress my guests and they think I am so clever (well that’s what they say to my face)! Stuart is super friendly and always has a good story and never fails to make me laugh. The staff training is superb, excellent customer service every time. Not just wine here they do a great selection of spirits, beer, teas and coffee as well. Look out for their great taster evenings. Oner of my very favourite shops in London

In search of some interesting brews for our evening meal, I came to the City Beverage Company yesterday and asked, «Which of the local beers would pair well with fish and chips?»
The chap at the till was helpful, recommending bottles from the Redchurch Brewery and the Kernel Brewery, both based in London. Then he let me know that the man behind Redchurch Brewery was in the store. I explained to him that I was taking some visiting friends out for fish and chips. He suggested his (7% abv) Great Eastern IPA; I quite enjoyed it with my haddock. The Shoreditch Blonde and Bethnal Pale Ale also went down well with my mates. I also picked up a couple of bottles of Kernel Citra IPA.
The City Beverage Company has a good sized selection of wine as well but I can’t speak to that as my focus was on beer this time around. It’s an excellent bottle shop to pop into prior to dinner at BYO resto. I’m looking forward to being a repeat customer!

Really solid bottle shop. I stopped in to peruse their beer selection and ended up buying about four. I will need to visit again to check out the wine options, and of course to buy some new beers. As a highlight, the CBC carries some of The Kernel beers, which come from a tiny brewer down near Tower Bridge that is making some of the best beers in the UK. I am drinking one of those beers now, the S.C.C.A.N.S. IPA, and it’s just out of this world good.
As another plus, the prices for the beers are quite reasonable. As a minus, I found the cashier to be a bit inattentive to the point where I got annoyed by him. Since I found great beers at good prices, which is why I went into the shop, I don’t count this against the CBC. Can’t wait to return.

It’s easy to forget about The City Beverage Company, there are no bells and whistles, no attention grabbing neon signs, it’s just a good old fashioned wine shop which also sells a startlingly good array of teas, coffees juices and the like.
The staff are super helpful and knowledgeable and will happily advise you on the best wine to buy here or cafetiere to use there. I’ve always feared that this little place will be put out of business by the increasing amount of Tescos in the area but they truly couldn’t replicate what this place has: character and choice. Support The City Beverage Company, it’s the antithesis of Tesco and one of the most useful shops in Shoreditch.

As a product designer I always look for a new way to exhibit my designs. That day I was on the bus to East London when discovering a shop with wooden wine boxes. Exactly what I had in mind, I thought it not do any harm for going in and ask if they have some spare ones.
From this day on I passed regularly by walking out of the shop with one or two boxes! I competed with the white cube gallery who are just placed around the corner, as their curators also wanted to use the wooden wine boxes for their installations. My exhibition looked great with all those wooden boxes, The City Beverage even helped me to take the nails out one by one! In return I bought them a ripe brie and some wholegrain bread from the food hall across the street, as a thank you as they have been so good to me.
Moving on, this got my favourite shop when I look for a good wine to bring to a dinner party, I go there! They offer wine from a range of wine yards I have visited (such as Stellen Bosch). For my Kiwi friend I get the New Zealand white wine, for my Swiss friend I found a dry Epesse and for this thanksgiving (it was a mission to get a turkey here in London) we bought a Gewürz Traminer! The wines are wrapped beautifully.
The shop looks like a grocery from the 18^th century as the staff serves you behind the counter. You are lured in by strong coffee aroma. There are several coffee types to choose from and get ground behind the counter. Because of this I also got one of their little espresso pot now. Make sure you put the freshly grounded coffee into the fridge, as it keeps the aroma longer alive.
I regularly get e-​mails by the two owners about their wine tasting on Friday nights. This shop has a heart and a soul.

Shortly after moving to Shoreditch, I found the CBC and what a relief it was. I am a wino and love small independently owned wine shops. Stuart and Brian who run this shop could not be more friendly and helpful. They are always around and more than happy to suggest a bottle or two. This is a fantastic little place with wine lined up to the ceiling towards the back and small provisions in the front. They have weekly wine tastings in Friday night run by Stuart who knows anything and everything about wines. I am in here often and will be a regular at this wino’s paradise until I leave London.

If I was unfortunate enough to be a celebrity (I think I’d probably murder someone if I had my privacy invaded that much) and I was being interviewed by ES Magazine for their My London section right at the back, there is one place that would feature at the top of my list: The City Beverage Company.
A charmingly small shop in the throbbing heart of Shoreditch, nestled amongst a strip of bars, restaurants and hairdressers’ salons, it’s no Threshers that’s for sure and that’s exactly what I adore about the place.
Run by wonderful oenophiles Stuart and Brian, they shun big name brands like Ernest and Julio Gallo and Yellow tail for smaller independent wine houses, many of which the pair have struck up friendships with and are therefore able to get the quality of wine you’d normally get stiffed a fair amount of cash for, for very reasonable prices. Think New Zealand Pinot Noir coming in at £9 a bottle (for the good stuff) and some amazing rare brands like Tokaji (a dessert wine from Hungary), sparkling reds (no, seriously) and a divine-​tasting white from Lebanon’s Château Musar that you’re actually supposed to drink at room temperature. If they served this stuff at communion, I’d have converted to Catholicism by now. And don’t get me started on the champagne range — I’m, getting drunk just thinking about it.
The best thing about this place has to be the fact they do free (YES I’LL SAY IT AGAIN, FREE) wine tastings on Fridays, which to the untrained eye would seem like professional suicide but the trick is this (If I am anything to go by): you walk in there as someone who used to drink bargain-​basement Pinot from Tesco and then three months later you’re there every week, the guys know you by first name and you’re not batting an eyelid as you whack a £20 bottle of Bongoverno onto the debit card. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!