Funky Cellar
The tastings are run by Geoffrey Nivard, who grew up in the Loire Valley and did a stint at Paxton & Whitfield, cheesemonger to the royal family, before starting his own cheese-and-wine business.
Why go
It is a cheese counter, a delicatessen and a wine cellar in one market unit on Lamb Street, with 70s clothing on racks alongside the food and the owners' own summary of the idea: We've brought everything we love into one space; cheese, booze and the 70s
(SquareMeal). The cheese is mainly French and the wine reaches further than a market unit needs to, from St Emilion Bordeaux to orange wine from Radikon on the Italian and Slovenian border, with craft beers hand-picked from UK micro-breweries in the same cellar (Old Spitalfields Market). Raclette and fondue are on all year. Nivard's tasting runs an hour and a half and puts five cheeses against five wines or beers, with a blind tasting to finish.
Order this / avoid
- Order: raclette or fondue, hot camembert with fig jam, and a board off the French counter. Ask for something orange, and see whether the Radikon is open.
- Avoid: treating it as a restaurant. It is a cheese shop with a bar attached, and it is at its best when somebody is explaining what you are eating.
What locals & experts say
- The owners, on the concept:
We've brought everything we love into one space; cheese, booze and the 70s.
2 - Old Spitalfields Market, the landlord, on what is actually in the cellar:
an eclectic wine cellar includes craft beers hand-selected from micro-breweries across the UK, to St. Emilion Bordeaux red's and orange wine coming from Radikon on the Italian/Slovenian border.
1 - No critic has reviewed it. Hot Dinners, Time Out, Londonist and the wine press were all searched on 1 August 2026 and none carries a piece on this venue. The tastings programme and the buying are carrying this entry.
Good to know
- Where: 10a Lamb Street, inside Old Spitalfields Market, E1 6EA.
- Timing: Monday to Saturday 10am to 10pm, Sunday 10am to 7pm.
- Booking: walk in for the counter. The tastings are ticketed and are booked either through Nivard's own business or through the venue.
- Opening date: not established. No source reached gives one, so it is left blank.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 4, inspected 18 October 2025. The components are hygiene 5, structure 5, confidence in management 10, so the weak mark is management rather than food practice.3
Verdict
could-visit — Worth twenty minutes if you are in Old Spitalfields Market and you want cheese taken seriously. The counter is French-led with a wine cellar behind it that runs from St Emilion to Radikon, the orange-wine producer on the Italian and Slovenian border, and there are craft beers hand-picked from UK micro-breweries sitting in the same room, which is an unusual and sensible thing for a cheese shop to do. Raclette and fondue run all year rather than as a winter gimmick. The reason to take it seriously is Geoffrey Nivard: he grew up in the Loire Valley, did a stint at Paxton & Whitfield, cheesemonger to the royal family, and now runs ninety-minute tastings here, five cheeses against five wines or beers with a blind at the end. It stays at could-visit because no named critic has written about the place in anything this pass could reach, and the 70s theme and the vintage clothing are decor rather than craft.