Second shop is five minutes away

The Stroud Wine Company is expanding, with a second site set to open later this month.

Richard and Laura Holloway launched the business in 2017 after relocating from Brighton, where they had worked at both Oddbins and Quaff.

The new shop at Griffin Mill may only be a five-minute drive away from their shop at Withy’s Yard, but each location has its own benefits.

“I suppose it’s quite unusual to have two shops within the same town,” says Laura. “But for us a lot of it’s about storage and parking as well. [Withy’s Yard] is in the town centre, which is pedestrianised, and is great, but there’s the demand for people to be able to just pull up outside as well.

“There’s an alleyway down to our shop and a busy café opposite, so you can imagine what it’s like getting a pallet delivery. We also spend a lot of time delivering so it’s also about being able to do that side of things more easily.”

The weekly farmers’ market also ensures footfall.

“The lovely thing about Griffin Mill,” continues Laura, “is it’s on the Golden Valley, which has just seen a lot of investment [as part of the Stroudwater canal regeneration]. It’s a really nice area that’s going to hopefully attract more tourists and there’s lots of other lovely businesses down near the canal, like Stroud Brewery and lots of cafés.”

• As part of Reserve Wines’ corporate rebrand. The Didsbury store is getting a facelift. The Reserve team have kept their customers updated on the refurbishment via social media promising “a snazzy new wine tasting room” when the site reopens later this month.

Calling time on 10 years in Brixton

Chix Chandaria has decided to close The Wine Parlour, the business she started with her partner Norman Comfort a decade ago.

Both branches in Brixton were shuttered in December, with Chandaria admitting that the business never fully recovered from the effects of Covid.

“We really did struggle the last 18 months,” she says, “but the last six months or so, from June to December, were just horrendous. In the end we just came to the conclusion that although we were trying really hard to bring back what we had, it just wasn’t going to ever get there. We were just throwing good money after bad.

“I’d been in Brixton for 10 years, and I feel like I was one of the early people to do what I was doing. But I just felt like it was over.

“We haven’t just locked up and run away but we didn’t make any huge announcement because it was just all very hard. We’ve sort of done it slowly. We made our staff redundant, we obviously had to pay them and we’re still paying suppliers and things as much as we can.”

The couple have moved to Norwich where Chandaria is building her wine consultancy and tastings business. They plan to continue visiting wine regions in their camper van with their dog, Fino.