Noble Rot team join the retail club Mark Andrew and Dan Keeling continue to grow their business with the launch of their first shop, situated close to Noble Rot restaurant, in Lamb’s Conduit Street in Bloomsbury, central London. With its logo designed by Noble Rot
magazine’s regular collaborator, Jose Miguel Mendez, Shrine to the Vine is
instantly recognisable as part of the brand. Andrew, who worked for Roberson for
several years, says that both he and Keeling both “cut their teeth in retail,” so this
development was perhaps inevitable.
“We had always said if the opportunity
presented itself and the circumstances
were right it would be something we’d love to do,” explains Andrew. “With our import company [Keeling Andrew] being in play for three or four years, we’ve got a lot of wine. And not just the wines we import,
but from distributors including Les Caves de Pyrene, Tutto and Flint.
“Because of the lockdown and
restaurants being closed, we had this
stockholding that wasn’t moving through as quickly as it normally would and that
maybe accelerated the idea of us turning
our attention to this plan to do something in the retail sphere.
“We had looked at other areas and other
sites but then an opportunity came up on Lamb’s Conduit Street, which is probably our favourite street in London.”
Callum Edge, previously of Taurus Wines,
The signage was created by Miguel Mendez, who also works on the magazine
So is Shrine to the Vine just the first of
more shops to come from the pair?
“Well, we’re ambitious,” Andrew admits,
“and we love the print and the restaurant industries and we’re excited to pursue projects we think are worthwhile.
“Through the restaurants and the
magazine, we have a really great
community of open-minded drinkers,
people who want to discover new things
and people who are intrigued by the best wines in the world.
“For now we’ve got a lovely premises and
we’re building the online presence. We’re
really excited about all of those things and we’ll see where it takes us.”
Mancs get ready for Gob to open
Ancoats in Manchester will soon be
and renovations began during the first
week of August. He says things are on track for a September or October opening.
“I’ve had an opportunity over the past
year to take a step back and really think
about the details, costs and menus,” says
Spalding, who will be working as the head chef and leading the buying of the wine.
“Gob is a complete hybrid. It will be on-
trade and off-trade and a restaurant with room for about 60 covers.”
He says the premises on George Leigh
Street, initially built as the town’s first
municipal housing project, is “a beautiful
building with parquet flooring – but there are a lot of broken Victorian windows at the moment.
“There are some really interesting
characters about and I’ve got a vision of some old dears coming in for a glass of oloroso sitting alongside the bearded
hipsters drinking natural wines. If we can
has joined the team as the digital manager.
home to a new wine shop, restaurant
scientist to see the world is continuing to
launch of Gob Manchester for some time,
permission to open a shop, deli, bar and
communicate with customers and not just
council, there were quite a few hoops to
• Cheers, the wine shop in Denmead near
“We’re very excited about that part of the
business because it doesn’t take a rocket
go with buying things online,” says Andrew. “It’s a great way to be able to
focus on a local audience but increase that reach nationwide.”
and bar. James Spalding has been planning the
pull that off, it will be brilliant.”
• Chester indie Vinological has applied for
and with his hopes pinned on a Grade II
tasting room at Brook Street in the city.
jump through.
Portsmouth, has closed. Owner Yvonne
listed building owned by Manchester city Spalding’s patience has finally paid off
THE WINE MERCHANT september 2021 4
Cohen is now focusing on her restaurant.
