Grant Ashton

Spear’s Review

67 Pall Mall’s Grant Ashton moved into the world of fine wine after a three-decade career in the City of London, having grown dissatisfied by fine establishments placing expensive markups on high-quality wines.

His private members’ club gives HNWs access to ample amounts of vintage vino: the 17,000 sq ft building next to St James’s Palace is home to 26,000 bottles of wine, 12,000 hand-blown crystal glasses by the Austrian company Zalto, the biggest wine list in the UK (at 6,000 wines) and the largest selection of wines by the glass (1,000) anywhere in the world.

The club has achieved his vision of allowing people to drink excellent wine in convivial surroundings without paying punitive prices, and is continuing to expand. A certain ‘unstuffiness’ is part of the charm: the staff wear their deep oenological knowledge lightly, but it is always there.