My Experience: This is why Ake & Humphris Wine Bar & Shop in Harrogate is a "very special place"

It’s a big thought to have over a small glass of wine sitting at a table inside Harrogate’s latest attempt to crack the conundrum of the wine bar.

As a phenomenon, they have existed in the UK for centuries but they’ve never quite become quite as much of a natural fit for the culture here as on the boulevards and piazzas of the Continent.

But neither have wine bars truly gone away in Britain or in Harrogate, though the last time they were in fashion was in the 1980s in an era of shoulder pads and yuppies.

Now, yes, I know William & Victoria on Cold Bath Road and The Tannin Level on Raglan Street both retain the feel of a wine bar, even if the focus is predominantly on food.

Papitos Bar on John Street, meanwhile, aims to offer a modern version of the wine bar.

The difference with Ake & Humphris, which recently took over the former Shuropody shop on Oxford Street, is that it is aiming to bring back tradition in a new, high quality way.

Understated and tasteful but oozing character, it’s a bold move in an area which is a bit of a mixed bag of the independent and the chain.

Once you walk through the large glass doors of Ake & Humphris Wine Bar & Shop all such doubts vanish in a matter of seconds.

Brilliantly designed to make it look as if it has been there forever, its warm and cosy but quietly quirky interiors are a temple of wood, filled with eccentric details, from upcycled 1920s wardrobes used for display to a bespoke chandelier crafted from antique copper wine funnels.

If I’d turned round to see Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or Oscar Wilde opening up a bottle across the room, I wouldn’t have been entirely surprised.

Another good thing about this new wine bar is that it feels like a very natural extension of Ake & Humphris’s independent wine merchant business, which has been trading successfully since 2010.

Part of its success is due to not only the expertise of its team but their love of reaching out in a naturally friendly fashion to its customers, which has led to a series of well attended wine fairs and a popular pop-up bar at its shop on Leeds Road.

The staff serving me at Ake & Humphris Wine Bar & Shop are just as good, coming to you to take your order at your table, offering to help you choose from the hundreds of wines on offer in three chill cabinets and a wall of wooden racks festooned with labels from around the world.

Wine is available by the glass from an interesting menu befitting a business which boasts know-how without the snobbery.

Or you can pick your own bottle and sit their luxuriating in a wine well chosen – after paying the corkage.

There’s a good range of prices and nothing too outlandlish sounding on the list, though the word “Orange” gives me a bit of a start until I realise it is a rapidly growing, high-quality, slightly complex category of wine hailing from Austria.

I say realise when what I meant to say was I had a quiet word with Ake & Humphris manager Paul Fogarty and bar manager Aimee Binfield who kindly explained it all to me.

It’s thanks to them, rather any innate good taste of my own that I then go on to sample a fruity Zinfandel from Cline Family Cellars in Sonoma just across the bay from San Francisco before trying a spicy Portuguese Alabastro, a wine whose name is inspired by a semi-precious marble found in Alentejo.

I talk to Paul and Aimee about the food offer – cheese and charcuterie at the moment, though there may be more to come.

And the beer; just a couple of local Rooster’s ales on tap to show a minor bit of willing without ruining the flavour of this new bar – and shop.

Time passes like a lazy afternoon on the pavements of Paris.

Maybe it’s the wine or maybe it’s the relaxed atmosphere but I am now feeling entirely at home amid a buzz of chatter from neighbouring tables.

The success of Ake & Humphris Wine Bar & Shop matters to more than the regulars it has already built up.

When the new wine bar had its official opening, it wasn’t just the owners and friends and family of staff who turned out.

Founders Edward Ake and Jonathan Humphris, who first met as students at Harrogate Grammar School, were joined by Deputy Mayor, Coun Jenny Travena; the town's MP Tom Gordon; Martin Mann, Chief Executive of Harrogate District Chamber of Commerce and Fiona Movley MBE, Chair of Harrogate International Festivals

All of them were willing it on, hoping this high-quality attempt to turn back time will win the day and revive the golden age of the wine bar.

Shoulder pads optional.

And if it gives one in the eye to fast food restaurants and a shot in the arm to Harrogate’s vital hospitality trade, so much the better.

Me, I just think Ake & Humphris have created a very special wine bar.

By Graham Chalmers

Opening hours - Ake & Humphris Wine Bar & Shop, Oxford Street, Harrogate

Open until 10pm every day

Mon, 11am - 10pm

Tue, 4pm - 10pm

Wed, 11am - 10pm

Thu, 11am - 10pm

Fri, 11am - 10pm

Sat, 10am - 10pm

Sun, 11am - 10pm

More information: https://www.akeandhumphris.co.uk/