Oddbins

Oddbins is different from other wine merchants and proudly so. It begins with their wine, of course, which is variously described as esoteric, adventurous and wildly exciting. Add to that the most informed and enthusiastic staff ever assembled in the world of wine and you have an unstoppable combination. It is this difference which has led to them winning Wine Magazine’s Wine Merchant of the Year award 12 times in total and The WHICH? Wine Guide 2004, Best High Street Chain Award.

"No other chain supports so consistently the notion that wines are individual entities... without Oddbins, there would simply be no large-scale retailer offering so much eclecticism and so much quality." Richard Ehrlich, Independent, January 2002

History

In '63 entrepreneur Ahmed Pochee starts up a small business delivering bin-ends and oddments of wine to the restaurants and clubs of London's West End. Later, Neil Armstrong lands on the moon and a horse wins the Grand National...

In the Seventies Oddbins, snapped up by new owners Dennis Ing and Nick Baile, introduces Britain to the wines of Portugal and the South of France. The company expands into Scotland, the West Country and the North West with wooden floors and wacky blackboards.
The Sex Pistols rock Bill Grundy's world and a beauty queen says she wants to end poverty and see world peace...

In the Eighties, Oddbins, now owned by Seagram and sporting 100 stores, becomes the first company to bring Australian wine and Ralph Steadman onto the UK high street. Oddbins is awarded Wine Merchant of the Year at the International Wine Challenge for the first time in 1988, the first of 12 such awards. The Berlin Wall comes down and some of the songs on Eurovision aren't any good...

In the Nineties, Oddbins holds its first consumer Wine Fair in London. It's such a success they decide to hold two each year, with one in London and one in Edinburgh. Shops open in Calais and Dublin and '98 sees the first Oddbins Wine Fair in Ireland. Mandela is freed and Bill Gates makes a bob or two...

Into the 21st Century, and they start the new millennium as they mean to continue by winning the Wine Merchant of the Year again in 2000 and 2001.

They celebrate by launching Oddbins.com and continue their trend-setting agenda by rediscovering Greek wine. January 2002 brings great excitement as Oddbins comes under the ownership of Castel Frères, one of France’s biggest and best wine producing companies. Vive la différence!

Click Here For Oddbins