Vagabond wine bar opens third UK site in Brighton

Vagabond has opened a wine bar on Duke Street in Brighton, its third new venue this year and only its second outside London. The 2,980 sq ft site takes over a former Browns Brasserie and pours more than 100 wines by the taste, 125ml or 175ml glass, through the group's tap-and-pour machines.

It's the latest sign of London wine bars betting on volume and access over scarcity, a shift also visible at the Savoy's Beaufort Wine Bar, which reopened this autumn with half its cellar poured by the glass.

The Brighton bar has a stainless-steel counter and a private dining room. Food runs to cheese and charcuterie boards plus seasonal sharing plates: pil pil prawns, padrón peppers, hanger steak tagliata.

Everyone at Vagabond is buzzing to be in Brighton.

Vagabond has grown from nine locations to 15 in the past 18 months, all but two of them in London. Birmingham, opened in 2021, was its only other site outside the capital until now. The group also runs an Urban Winery in Canada Water, London, where it makes English wine, and has added an app, digital wine flights and a transactional website over the past year.

Majestic backs the expansion

Majestic Wine Group bought Vagabond roughly two years ago, backed by Fortress Investment Group. Since then it has pushed the brand to grow beyond the capital.

"Vagabond's experiential and highly differentiated hospitality concept is at the heart of the Majestic Wine Group's strategy," said John Colley, the group's executive chairman and chief executive. He said Vagabond is aimed at "younger, more adventurous wine consumers" and that Majestic will keep investing in similar sites across the UK.

Graham Hall, Vagabond's interim managing director, said: "Everyone at Vagabond is buzzing to be in Brighton."

A seaside test for the tap model

Brighton gives Vagabond its first seaside site and a chance to test the tap-wine format outside a big city centre. The group's own count of 15 venues in 18 months suggests more coastal and regional openings are likely to follow, if Majestic's spending holds.

For now, Duke Street joins a short list: London, Birmingham, and Brighton.