Vagabond Wines has agreed to take on a 6,000 sq ft space in London’s Canada Water that is billed to become the UK’s largest urban winery.
Backed by investment from owner Majestic Group, it is due to open later this year in partnership with British Land and investor AustralianSuper’s 53-acre Canada Water Masterplan.
The unit is housed on the ground floor of the mixed-use Dock Shed development and will feature a working 100-tonne winery with a central concrete egg fermenter, a tasting room, Vagabond bar and multiple event and private hire spaces.
It is expected to quadruple Vagabond’s English wine output, raising production capacity to roughly 100,000 bottles a year.
The space can also welcome more than 300 daily visitors, where guests can explore the wine at every stage of its journey.
Plans for the urban winery come soon after Vagabond announced it will open a flagship 250-cover bar in the former site of Channel 4’s First Dates restaurant in London’s St Paul’s this August.
Vagabond is also looking to double the size of its estate in the next three years.
Christobell Giles, managing director at Vagabond, said: “This urban winery is unlike anything we’ve done before. It’s a cathedral to wine – a space that lets people get up close to the winemaking process and connects them to the stories and passion behind every bottle. Wine shouldn’t live on a dusty shelf. It should be alive, expressive and social – and that’s exactly what we’re building.”
John Colley, chief executive of Majestic Group, added: “We are really excited to be launching the UK’s largest urban winery, in a prime central London location. This is a project we have been working on for a number of months and we can’t wait to welcome our first guests later this year. This significant investment from Majestic Group demonstrates the huge potential we see in the Vagabond brand, and we are committed to supporting its expansion into major towns and cities outside of London in the coming years.”
The first phase of the Canada Water Masterplan, delivered in partnership with Southwark Council, is due for completion this summer, which will see the addition of 300,000 sq ft of workspace and 13,000 sq ft of retail at Three Deal Porters and Dock Shed.
Vagabond opened its first bar in London’s Fulham in 2010. At its peak, it operated 11 bars, nine of which were sold in a £6.5m deal to Majestic in 2024, with the remaining two at Gatwick Airport being sold to privately run Airport Retail Enterprises (UK) for £400,000 last June.
Wine specialist Majestic was founded in 1980 and sold to Fortress Investment Group in 2019. It has since grown into a network of 213 stores across the UK and Jersey.
In April 2025, it also acquired rival supplier Enotria&Coe to bolster its presence across hospitality.