Vats Wine Bar (Russell Square - London)

Vats Wine Bar

A floorboard clad long wine bar, well buried up a pedestrianised road in the rich pickings behind Russell Square. This is an established older, middle-market sophisticated wine bar with some fine examples and not for those living on the cheap. The place is communal and glowing with wine knowledge, old bottles on random shelves and a heavy fireplace with the length of the bar trailing off deeply into the back of the building. The hospitality of the place comes as a surprise as landlady selects a table for us and brings out the wine and glasses for us after we had made a selection. In almost table-waiting fashion the place has such a richness of character and hospitality as to impress the unsuspecting passer-by to wander in and sample some of the finer qualities this place has to offer.

Overall particularly communal but not exclusively local, the place welcomes guests new and old but perhaps requires a slice of wine knowledge to best fit in, pricey to match the quality but unexpectedly comfortable - 8/10