Cork of the North Sale

Cork of the North Sale smudges the line between wine merchant and wine bar even before you’ve had a glass. Chances are, if you nip in just for a drink, you’ll leave with a bottle or two to take home, and vice versa.   

The small bar area extends into a sheltered, heated ‘wine garden’. Order from a daily-changing selection of wines by the glass, or from the hundreds stocked in the shop. The owner, the ebullient Marc Hough, or one of his equally enthusiastic team, will help you find a bottle you’ll love. 

Pair your tipple with small plates, nibbles, and platters of cheese, meat and seafood from the kitchen, where the man in charge was once private chef for Depeche Mode. (He’ll serve you your own personal cheesus board, if you sing your order to him.)

Well, maybe not, but there is a refreshing lack of stuffiness to Cork of the North that makes shopping and drinking there a pleasure. They have another branch in Heaton Mersey that’s equally free from elitism.

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