About Oddbins

"No other chain supports so consistently the notion that wines are individual entities... without Oddbins, there would simply be no large-scale retailer offering so much eclecticism and so much quality."

Richard Ehrlich, "The Independent"

Some History....

In 1963 entrepreneur Ahmed Pochee starts up a small business delivering bin-ends and oddments of wine (hence our name!) to the restaurants and clubs of London's West End. 

In the Seventies Oddbins, snapped up by new owners Dennis Ing and Nick Baile (father of new owner Simon Baile), introduces Britain to the wines of Portugal and the South of France. The company expands into Scotland, the West Country and the North West with wooden floors and wacky blackboards.

In the Eighties, Oddbins, now owned by Seagram and sporting 100 stores, becomes the first company to bring Australian wine and Ralph Steadman onto the UK high street. Oddbins is awarded Wine Merchant of the Year at the International Wine Challenge for the first time in 1988, the first of 12 such awards.

In the Nineties, Oddbins holds its first consumer Wine Fair in London. It's such a success we decide to hold two each year, with one in London and one in Edinburgh. 

Into the 21st Century, and we start the new millennium as we mean to continue by winning the Wine Merchant of the Year again in 2000 and 2001. We celebrate by launching Oddbins.com and continue our trend-setting agenda by rediscovering Greek wine.

In January 2002 Oddbins comes under the ownership of Castel Frères, one of France’s biggest wine producing companies. Vive la différence!

On the 1st August 2008, Henry Young and Simon Baile (son of previous MD Nick Baile) bought Oddbins from Castel and we launch into possibly the most exciting period of our history as we bring the family connection back to Oddbins. Watch this space for updates on the new and innovative plans for the future....we have many new products and fantastic new wines arriving and a whole army of dedicated Oddbinites ready to serve our customers!