Peek inside the beguiling interiors of London bar, Goodbye Horses

Japanese folk and arts & crafts converge inside North London wine bar Goodbye Horses in De Beauvoir Town.

The whimsical wine bar takes over a former pub on Halliford Street, with Goodbye Horses founders Alex Young and George de Vos enlisting Swiss architect Leopold Banchini to lead the restoration of the Victorian building.

Banchini’s reverence for natural materials and folk elements can be seen across the bar’s interiors, inspired by Japanese Folk Art and its convergence with the English Arts and Crafts movement. A single, 10-metre-long piece of oak forms the bar. Planed and de-barked, it keeps its rugged and original natural form, adding to the rawness and understated simplicity of the space. (Bar stools by Banchini are fabricated from the same oak tree.)

Above the bar, a hand-painted lantern mural by artist Lucy Stein depicts imagery and elements plucked from British mythology and folklore, including moons and the bar’s namesake horses. Painted on rice paper canvas, it diffuses a soft light across the space when illuminated.

Brickwork has been cleaned up and coated with lime wash to add to the rustic charm, paired with floor-to-ceiling hessian curtains decorated with Stein’s work, cork ceilings and an earthen floor made of raw clay and straw. They add warmth and texture to the space and also have acoustic properties – though it doesn’t explicitly market itself as a listening bar, Goodbye Horses has a 4,000-plus vinyl record library set in wooden shelving behind the bar. Audiophiles will be impressed by Izaak Gray’s sound system, featuring vintage, restored Tannoy Lancasters offers high-fidelity audio for an immersive listening experience but still allows for comfortable conversation.

The wine bar has an extensive list of ‘living and as close to zero-zero’ natural wines curated by Natalie Nelles (formerly of Noble Rot) available by the glass or bottle. They pair with Chef Jack Coggins’s simple but delicious menu, which includes sardines on milk bread, steak tartare with smoked chilli and sourdough crisps, langoustines, and prawn dolma.