1905 London

Fitzrovia's Wine Bar Tier: Where 1905 London Sits

London's wine bar scene has fractured into distinct strata over the past decade. At one end, you have casual neighbourhood spots where the list is an afterthought to the charcuterie board. At the other, you have destination-led wine bars, recognised by specialist press, where the bottle selection is the primary reason people cross postcodes. 1905 London is a restaurant and wine bar at 40 Mortimer Street in Fitzrovia, central London. Its White Star designation from Star Wine List places it inside a recognised tier of London venues where the wine program has been assessed against a defined editorial standard.

The Star Wine List White Star is not a blanket accolade handed to every venue with a decent Burgundy on the menu. It is a curatorial signal, comparable in function to the way Michelin stars operate in restaurant criticism: shorthand for a program that exceeds the minimum expectations of its category. For a wine bar, that means list depth, selection logic, and service knowledge that justify a deliberate visit. 1905 London carries that credential from the point of its February 2023 publication, which makes it a useful reference point for anyone mapping London's serious wine drinking options.

The Address and What It Implies

Mortimer Street runs through Fitzrovia, the strip of central London that sits between Oxford Street to the south and the Euston Road to the north, bordered by Tottenham Court Road on one side and Great Portland Street on the other. It is not a neighbourhood that trades on a strong dining identity the way Mayfair does with its concentration of formal restaurants like Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, or the way Notting Hill does with Brett Graham's The Ledbury. Fitzrovia's character is more mixed: media companies, independent cafes, a handful of restaurants that attract deliberate visitors rather than passing trade.

That context matters for the restaurant. A wine bar in Mayfair competes on different terms than one in Fitzrovia. The W1W postcode draws a crowd that tends to know what it is looking for, rather than wandering in from a nearby hotel lobby. The nearest Underground stations are Oxford Circus and Goodge Street, both within comfortable walking distance, which means the venue is accessible from most of central London without being in the tourist-density zones that surround Covent Garden or Leicester Square. For visitors staying in the West End or working in the area, the location is practical without being frictionless, you need to know it is there.

What a White Star Signals About the Experience

The editorial angle for the restaurant is shaped by its Star Wine List credential. White Star designation within the Star Wine List framework generally indicates a wine program with meaningful depth and curation: a list that has been constructed with selection logic rather than assembled from a distributor's standard portfolio. In the London context, where wine bars range from afterthought annexes to serious destination programs, that distinction is not trivial.

London's wine bar tier that competes at this level includes venues where the list might run to several hundred references, with coverage across regions and producer types that rewards repeat visits. What the Star Wine List recognition confirms is that the program met a specialist editorial standard at the point of assessment.

For context, London's restaurant scene at the higher end of critical recognition includes venues like CORE by Clare Smyth, Ikoyi, and The Clove Club, all carrying Michelin recognition and operating in the formal dining register. The restaurant operates in a different register: the wine bar format, where the rhythm of an evening is less structured, pacing is self-directed, and the list itself is the primary form of expertise on offer. These are parallel tracks of serious eating and drinking in London, not a hierarchy.

Planning a Visit

The restaurant is located at 40 Mortimer Street, London W1W 7RQ. The venue functions as both a wine bar and restaurant, which means food is available alongside the wine program, useful to know if you are planning an evening that spans both. Reservations are recommended, and the venue is open Monday to Thursday from 11am to 11pm, Friday from 11am to 1am, Saturday from 10am to 1am, and Sunday from 10am to 11pm.

Waterside Inn in Bray, Moor Hall in Aughton, L'Enclume in Cartmel, Gidleigh Park in Chagford, Hand and Flowers in Marlow, and hide and fox in Saltwood represent the spread of serious British dining outside London. For international reference points in the same critical tier, Le Bernardin in New York City and Emeril's in New Orleans offer useful comparison.