Philglas & Swiggot

While stocking some interesting wines, and many of which are actually pretty competitively priced given the quality and location, I am rather lukewarm about this shop. One thing I loathe is being patronised, especially by someone in a shop who assumes that anyone who comes in (aka «a customer»), must be some cloth-​eared bumpkin with no knowledge whatsoever of the goods. «Wine you say? I normally stick to scrumpy I make in a bucket. «Not. Such a shame. Perhaps I should present my Oenophile Union card on entry?

To those outside the owning your own business. Think before you write stupid reviews. This place has great customer service. Even if it may have not been to your standards every human has a bad day. I’m of no connection to this business just really enjoyed the wine I purchased their and the guidance in choosing the wine I had bought from the worker. Give this place a try and when you buy your wine from them and your home swigging your read wine in its glass allowing it to breath. Remember you had purchased it from a independent non chain business.
I like shopping in small owned run business and one shouldn’t write a review based on one experience. If something is up to your standard allow a business to know so they can address before you disrespect a great store.

Philglas & Swiggot feels to me a lot like a wine shop from a bygone era. The staff do not engage with customers who are left to wander round the shop trying to choose which bottle of wine they might want to purchase. Given that the vast majority of the bottles are in the £20 plus bracket this is more than a bit frustrating as, if you are going to spend this amount of money on wine, you want to be very confident that your selection is going to be to your liking. Other wine shops solve this problem by either making the wine available to taste (step forward The Sampler and Vagabond) or with engaging customer service (Highbury Vintners, I salute you).
To top it off, the wine is sold at top whack prices. For example, Philglas sells Château Musar’s current vintage at £23.15. This is more expensive than Berry Bros (whose prices are not cheap by any means) and far more expensive than Majestic who currently sell it for £17.99. While I appreciate independent wine merchant’s need to make a bigger profit margin than Majestic it is almost 30% more expensive to buy your wine at Philglas without any recompense of the kind mentioned above.

Nice selection including White Château Neuf de Pape which is a bit hard to find. Choose careful as there are some high priced off years (french reds) to be avoided.

had to put this place in as I reviewed the wine shop across the road and it wouldn’t have been fair!
This is another independent wine shop which is pretty well established and even have an excellent online shop.
They have lots and lots of wine ranging from £6 to well, a great deal more! They are more than happy to give advice and often have bottles that you simply will not find elsewhere (especially in ASDA!!).
It is also really good for wine gifts for the other half’s old man, that kind of thing.
Also they can’t be lacking in a sense of humourif you note the name!