Newtown retailer P&V Wine + Liquor Merchants has opened a new concept space in Paddington.
The outpost at 268 Oxford Street combines the retail philosophy of the Newtown store with restaurant and wine bar elements over the two story building. The upper level, due to open in mid-March, will host a French-inspired restaurant called Porcine, while the lower level, which opened just last week under the P&V name, could be described as a restaurant, retail, wine bar fusion.
Mike Bennie, P&V Co-owner, said while the amount of stock on display in the space makes it look a lot like just a bottle shop, there are several other elements at play.
“With how much stock we have on hand, it does look like a bottle shop. But really, that’s just the wine list living on the walls and in the fridges to power the courtyard out the back in which you can eat and drink – you can take wines from the primary space at the front of the building and, for a corkage fee, open those bottles up in the back while enjoying a smart but relatively short menu of items that go alongside,” Bennie told National Liquor News.
“It’s a drink-in and takeaway venue, where the wine, beer, spirits and non-alcoholic products exist in the front part of the shop.”
Within that ground level concept, customers can also enjoy wines by the glass, to explore new and different wines and be educated by the knowledgeable staff. The small menu alongside this includes terrines from Nik Hill, former chef of the Old Fitzroy Hotel who will also be part of the team running Porcine, charcuterie from local supplier LP’s and cheeses from Simon Johnson.
Bennie said the additional opening of Porcine upstairs next month will bolster the offering of the entire space, which is already garnering a lot of engagement and success in its first week alone.
“The way we like to describe it is like an enhanced P&V, a turbocharged P&V from Newtown. We’ve still got all the events, masterclasses and tastings that are going on in Newtown and making sure there is a very vibrant program here in Paddington as well. Already some of those events are selling out,” Bennie said.
View this post on Instagram
Newtown’s P&V store has become iconic in the Sydney retail scene since opening due to its special commitment and approach that heroes organic, natural and otherwise sustainable products in support of small Australian producers. The choice to bring this philosophy from an inner western city fringe suburb to an inner eastern city fringe suburb was made because of the similarities between the two communities.
“We chose Paddington because we believe, similarly to Newtown, that there’s a really great sense of community around this area in which we can engage, and perhaps one of our most important things in Newtown is how we engage with our local community. We’re not just a bottle shop in Newtown, we’re a place of education, a place of collaboration, and a place of community outreach where we do charitable activities. We’re also all committed to, in capital letters, ‘paying the rent’, and have a strong acknowledgement of Aboriginal country and Aboriginal culture through our business as well,” Bennie explained
“These are all the things we’re hoping to achieve in Paddington as well – it’s a great interaction with those who live particularly locally, where we can foster this great sense of community and interact in a collaborative way with everybody as well. It’s the same ethos and structure as P&V Newtown, but we have the ability to drink and eat in on site, and with a restaurant arriving in a few weeks time as well.”
Feature image: P&V Co-owners Lou Dowling and Mike Bennie.