Goodbye Horses

Goodbye Horses is one of the most extraordinary restaurant openings of 2024 in London -- a natural wine bar and restaurant awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand 2026, housed in a beautifully reimagined Georgian pub on Halliford Street in De Beauvoir Town, on the border of Islington and Hackney. Opened in July 2024 by Alex Young and George de Vos, the space was redesigned by Swiss architect Leopold Banchini, fusing English Medieval Revival with Japanese wabi-sabi aesthetics: a ten-metre-long bar crafted from a single oak tree, hand-painted folk murals by Cornish artist Lucy Stein, hand-textured cork ceiling, and a quadraphonic vintage Tannoy Lancaster speaker system playing from a 4,000-strong vinyl record library. Hot Dinners calls it "something really rather special." Time Out calls it "a posh wine bar in an old Islington pub... vintage audiophile soundsystem and small-plates food." The Nudge: "The menu is all killer no filler."

Head Chef Jack Coggins delivers a weekly rotating small-plates menu championing seasonality and sustainability: sardines on milk bread with fermented butter, oxtail ragout broken rice, seasonal vegetables from trusted growers, and creative sharing plates that rotate with what is best each week. Wine Director Nathalie Nelles curates an ambitious, exclusively natural and biodynamic wine list. Sister venues include Day Trip (coffee shop, same building) and The Dreamery (gelato bar, across the street). Walk-ins always welcome. Website: goodbyehorses.london.