Sager + Wilde Wine Bar
Michael Sager built the bar top out of old London paving stones and put huge windows into a small converted East End pub, and has been pouring cellar-level wine by the glass out of it since 2013 (The World's 50 Best Bars).
Why go
The Coravin list is the reason. It is always changing and known for offering unicorns and special surprises
, which is the mechanism by which a bottle you would never open at home turns into one glass (Star Wine List). The by-the-glass list around it leans low-intervention and European, and then does not stop there: the same review is careful to say the list carries some serious listings beyond this style of grower
, with names a classic drinker will recognise. Team choices are marked on the list, which is the floor telling you what they want to pour and talk about.
The founding idea, from 2013 after a pop-up the year before, was fine wine at cut prices with the haughtiness taken out. Thirteen years on the pricing discipline is still the thing the specialists point at. When producers come in, or when the bar opens its cellar for an afternoon, the prices are set "to make it feel like a pub without compromising the wine quality".
In the Star Wine List of the Year UK 2026 it took a Silver Star for its medium-sized list and another in the rose category, in company that includes Maison Francois, OMA and Dorian (ceremony). It won neither category. That is an accurate picture: among the best lists in the country, not the single best, and it has been in these categories since 2021.
Order this / avoid
- Order: whatever is open on the Coravin, first. Then a glass from the team choices, which is the shortcut to what the floor is excited about this week. Cheese and charcuterie to go with it, and the grilled cheese sandwich the bar has always made. An eau-de-vie to finish.
- Avoid: turning up before five on a weekday, because it does not open. Coming for cocktails, which are a small part of the offer here and the entire point of the sister bar down the road. And do not expect last month's glass list, because it turns over constantly.
What locals & experts say
- Queena Wong, Star Wine List, on what the list actually is:
The list leans low intervention and Eurocentric, though don't be fooled by this description. It has some serious listings beyond this style of grower, and if you are a classic drinker there are plenty of names you will recognise, including some big producers and rare gems at great prices to encourage the curious and ensure these wines are poured and shared.
And on how it feels:It is fabulous to be able to have fancy wine with a few small plates, without needing to be in a fine dining setting.
1 - The same registry on its place in the city's history:
Sager + Wilde put the cool and the hip into London's wine bar scene back in 2013, following a successful pop up the year before... All in all, a really fun place that's inspired many more bars to open since.
1 - The World's 50 Best Bars, on the room and on what it is not:
the bar is generally packed with Londoners sipping on anything from pet nats to pinots. Cocktails play a small role here but come into their own at Sager's sister venue down the road.
3 - Star Wine List of the Year UK 2026, 23 March 2026: Silver Star in Best Medium-Sized List and Silver Star in the rose category. The rose award itself went to The Terrace Rooms & Wine in Ventnor.2
- No critic has reviewed it in anything reachable. For a bar the trade treats as a reference point, that gap is worth stating.
Good to know
- Where: 193 Hackney Road E2 8JL, in the building that was the British Lion pub. The venue's own site publishes no address; this one is agreed by The World's 50 Best Bars and the Food Standards Agency register.
- Timing: Monday to Wednesday 5pm to 11pm, Thursday to midnight, Friday to 1am, Saturday 2pm to 1am, Sunday 2pm to 11pm. Seven nights.
- Booking: book through the site, and they take private hire.
- Who runs it: Michael Sager owns it. Lais Aoki is Head of Wine.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 5, Hackney, inspected 3 August 2022, FHRSID 622406, with five points lost on each of the three components. Clean, and four years old, so read it as the last recorded inspection rather than as a current one.5
- Food: cheese, charcuterie and the grilled cheese sandwich. It is a wine bar and it says so.
- Sites: Equal Parts, down the road and curated here, is from the same owner and is where the cocktails live. The group has used more than one Hackney Road address over the years, so check which one a review is about before you trust it.
Verdict
should-visit — If you care about wine, this is the send in east London. Michael Sager opened it on Hackney Road in 2013, after a pop-up the year before, in a small converted East End pub, and built the bar top out of old London paving stones. The argument for it has not changed since: fine wine at prices that do not punish you, poured without ceremony. Star Wine List's description is the one to trust, and it is careful about what the list actually is: it 'leans low intervention and Eurocentric, though don't be fooled by this description. It has some serious listings beyond this style of grower.' The part worth planning around is the Coravin programme, 'always changing and known for offering unicorns and special surprises', which is how cellar bottles end up in a glass rather than a GBP 300 commitment. When producers come in, or when they open the cellar for an afternoon, the pricing is set 'to make it feel like a pub without compromising the wine quality'. In the Star Wine List of the Year UK 2026 it took a Silver Star in two categories, medium-sized list and rose, without winning either, which is an honest measure of where it sits: among the best lists in the country and not the single best. Cocktails are barely the point here and are the whole point at the sister bar down the road. It opens at five on weekdays and runs to 1am at weekends.