The Yorkshire wine bar making fine wine less intimidating
The team at Honley Wine Bar tell db how its rotating regional lists, Coravin programme and unpretentious service style are helping customers trade up in confidence — and bringing younger drinkers into wine.
In a northern village far from a major city centre, Honley Wine Bar is quietly building a reputation for doing something many independent merchants and wine retailers have struggled to achieve: turning hesitant consumers into adventurous wine drinkers.
The wine bar, which recently celebrated its first year in business, rebuilds its wine list each month around a different region or theme. Greece featured in May, while Austria-Hungary appeared in October and the Rhône in December.
“We are entering because we believe the most powerful form of retail is not transactional but transformational,” the business said in its company bio.
With more than 100 wines available by the glass through Coravin preservation systems, the bar said the model allows customers to taste wines before committing to a bottle.
Because the venue changes its featured list monthly, customers are regularly introduced to new grapes, regions and styles.
“We’ve had ‘I don’t like champagne, so I don’t drink sparkling’ drinkers develop a love for Cap Classique, we’ve opened people’s eyes to Georgia, Armenia and Greece as producing regions,” said owner Kevin Evans.
The venue’s monthly tasting events have also become increasingly popular.
“Our monthly wine lists are launched the first Thursday of each month with a tasting night,” Evans said. “Oliver hosts them and talks people through the wines, we pour flights of basically all of them and talk to people about the country, the region, the grapes and the styles.”
The tastings are paired with food from local restaurants, which cater the themed events and also provide dishes for the bar itself.
“We partner with local restaurants to provide food,” Evans said. “Something else I’m really proud of is that we’ve poured tens of thousands of pounds into local restaurants since opening, by working with them to provide food rather than trying to compete with them with our own offerings.”
The business described the approach as “a practical, reciprocal ecosystem where a wine bar, its food partners, and its community sustain one another”.
‘I’ve avoided wine bars for 20 years’
The bar’s approach centres on guiding drinkers away from familiar choices without intimidating them.
“We’ve tried REALLY hard not to be snobby and pretentious about it, because that’s really off-putting,” Evans said.
He recalled one customer who initially refused all wine recommendations because she only drank Pinot Grigio.
“She asked for a pinot grigio, which we deliberately didn’t have,” Evans said. “I had a chat with her about other options and she said ‘it’s fine, I’ll have a cocktail’.”
Later in the evening, the customer agreed to try a small pour of wine recommended by Evans.
“She loved it, had a 175ml of another one for the third round and then decided to stay for a fourth and tried another glass,” he said.
By the end of the evening, the customer had discovered several new wines she enjoyed.
“When they left — a little more wobbly than they’d arrived — she gave me a beaming smile and said ‘I’ve avoided wine bars for 20 years because I only drank pinot grigio and didn’t really enjoy it, but now I have three wines I love and can ask for!’”
Evans said stories like that are common at the venue.
“That — and variations of it — is a pretty common story for us,” he said.
Bar manager Oliver Jones said around half of customers arrive with limited wine knowledge.
“We certainly get a real mix,” Jones said. “I’d say a good 50% have very limited knowledge, being gentle in our approach is definitely key.”
Jones said he has seen customers become increasingly adventurous over the past year.
“Having been open a year now I can really see the change in the confidence and knowledge of our regulars,” he said. “Especially the ones who attend our monthly wine tasting nights.”
He added that some customers who once stuck to familiar wines now regularly order Greek Vidiano and Filipa Pato Sparkling 3B Brut Nature Rosé from Portugal.
Trading up through tastings
According to Evans, customers have become increasingly willing to experiment with premium wines through the bar’s by-the-glass programme and tasting flights.
“People who were initially horrified at the idea of a £12.50 glass of wine are now trying them in small pours and buying them regularly,” he said.
He pointed to one customer who regularly drinks Lebanese wines but had never tried Musar due to budget concerns.
“We had a chap at the bar last weekend who loves Lebanese wines but doesn’t have the budget to try Musar and treated himself to a 50ml of Musar to end the night,” Evans said.
The venue currently offers more than 100 wines by the glass from 50ml pours upwards and was recently recognised in the 2026 Coravin guide.
Partner Content
“We were one of just 17 venues given ‘3 glasses’ in the 2026 Coravin guide,” Evans said. “Only six of those 17 are outside London.”
Jones said tasting flights have helped customers gain confidence with premium wines.
“On our monthly list we always have a Discover and Best of flight where they get 4x 50ml taster glasses,” he said. “These show a good range from the current region in focus and particularly if the guests select the Best Of flight they can taste some premium wines.”
He added: “We can definitely see off the back of this more people ordering the premium wines.”
Greek wines, orange wine and Chardonnay
The team said some of the biggest surprises for customers come from wines and regions they had previously dismissed.
“We definitely see people surprised that they like wines they thought they didn’t,” Evans said.
He pointed to Greek wines as one example.
“We have people who’ve never heard of Greek wines and discover that the Nebbiolo they normally drink is not far from Xinomavro… but the Xinomavro is a fraction of the price,” he said.
Jones said the venue’s Greek-themed month generated scepticism at first.
“This definitely got a few reactions from customers,” he said. “‘Can you get nice wine from Greece?’ and ‘We had some terrible wines last time we went on holiday there’ were just a few of the comments.”
Jones said wines such as Ktima Gerovassiliou Malagousia helped change perceptions.
“A little chat with them about the history of wines in Greece, and an idea of what they normally like along with a little taster of something like the Ktima Gerovassiliou, Malagousia, and they can be totally converted,” he said.
Jones also said he enjoys challenging customers who claim they dislike Chardonnay.
“I do love to take it upon myself to show them there is more to Chardonnay than many think,” he said.
He highlighted Francois Carillon La Bergerie Chardonnay 2022 as a recent success.
“Needless to say it’s been going down a storm,” Jones said.
Bringing younger drinkers into wine
Evans said the venue attracts a broad age range, from retired drinkers looking to expand their wine knowledge to consumers in their 20s and early 30s trying unfamiliar styles for the first time.
“I don’t think it’s so much an age thing as a ‘people who like a drink, but either didn’t think wine was a drink for them, or thought they’d found the wine they liked’ thing,” he said.
Evans added that younger consumers often return with friends after discovering the venue.
“It is great to see younger folks getting into wine and then coming back and bringing their friends,” he said.
Jones said younger consumers are often more familiar with styles such as orange wine.
“I have had orange wines on my house board since we opened,” he said. “I’d say the younger drinkers would be more likely to have tried them before, but when you get chatting to customers very few would say no to tasting a bit of one.”
He also pointed to growing interest in no and low options.
“One thing I have noted is the younger generation’s interest in the low alcohol options, of which we have a good range,” Jones said. “Things like the Copenhagen BLA Sparkling Tea has been going really well for us.”
‘Making wine more social and sociable’
Evans believes wine bars are becoming increasingly important entry points for consumers who might find traditional merchants intimidating.
“Walking into a traditional independent merchant is often off-putting even for me now as a wine bar owner studying for the Diploma,” he said.
“Lots of them are crowded places with mysterious ranges and tiny collections of things that most people don’t recognise.”
He argued that by-the-glass programmes reduce the risk associated with trying unfamiliar wines.
“Spending £40 on a bottle and discovering you don’t like it will ruin most people’s evening,” Evans said. “Spending £8 on a glass and discovering it’s not for you, then having a chat with a friendly person about why it’s not for you, is a really different thing.”
He added: “Bars like us are making that process much more social and sociable, and something you do with friends.”
Evans stressed that the goal was not to replace independent merchants.
“That hopefully encourages people to feel more confident going into those merchants,” he said. “I don’t think this is about replacing independents — so much as us helping people to take that step over their threshold.”
Related news
8 trends that will define rosé this summer
