Dancers Kevin Hale and Luke Cinque-White met at The Royal Ballet School when they were just 13. Nearly two decades later the two best friends, now 32, have opened wine bar The Rowdy Table in Streatham together, swapping the barre for the stainless-steel bar.
It was Hale who came up with the idea for The Rowdy Table as part of his course at Le Cordon Bleu, where he retrained as a chef after retiring from dancing with the English National Opera and Company Wayne McGregor, among others. The Rowdy Table was conceived as “a social experiment” with strangers seated around a shared table. Cinque-White, an oenophile and an actor (catch him in Cleansed at the Almeida Theatre this summer) introduced wine tasting into the mix. Their first event, a pop-up in 2024 with dancers and DJs in a Hackney warehouse, was supposed to be a one-off, but people went crazy for it. “We started getting messages asking ‘When’s your next one?’” says Cinque-White.
More events followed, with ever-more outrageous entertainment including a Burlesque and Bacchus night, a Tipsy Tea Dance, and a pub quiz called “Who wants to be a sommilionaire?”.
A permanent home in Streatham, where Cinque-White grew up, fell into their laps when their beer supplier Inkspot Brewery offered up its tiny old shop and bar, Art & Craft. Cinque-White and Hale call it “the smallest wine bar in London”, with room for 18 (22 at a push). On sunny days, drinkers spill onto the footpath outside.
“Luke and I had gone back and forth about where we would put this bar,” says Hale. “I live in east London: you can spit and hit a wine bar. I will give Luke his flowers: he always did chirps for south of the river.”
In the conservative world of wine, the queer-owned Rowdy Table offers something very different. The wine list itself sets it apart, with wines (from £8 a pour, £47 a bottle) sitting under categories like Bitches Diesel (sparkling) and Princess Petrol (rosé). All wines – beers, ciders and spirits, too – are from small, independent producers working sustainably, organically or biodynamically. Many are English and exclusive to The Rowdy Table.
“Larkhill Vineyard in Tetbury [in the Cotswolds] is run by a husband and wife who only sell out of their cellar door,” says Cinque-White. “They don’t sell to pubs or restaurants but we got in because one of our best friend’s aunts is a member of the Women’s Institute with the owner.”
The pair also adore the chilled reds from Sandridge Barton in Devon and sparklers from Woodchester Valley in the Cotswolds. “Here in England, we don’t have the regulations about how you make wine by region, so people are being really experimental. That’s what I find interesting,” says Cinque-White.
There’s no kitchen, so Hale sources charcuterie and cheese from Thompson’s Deli & Baker, the family-run specialty food shop next door. Meanwhile, Cinque-White, a flower obsessive, buys blooms each week from the Covent Garden Flower Market. “We’re in peony season, so the whole space is going to be filled with peonies.”
Streatham locals seem smitten and the feeling’s mutual. “Honestly, we've loved every single person that's come through the door,” says Hale. “Everyone starts talking and everyone becomes friends. It’s a really beautiful thing to watch.”
The Rowdy Table
2A Streatham High Road, SW16 1DB
07773 187866
Hours:
Wed 2pm–10pm
Thu to Sat 2pm–11pm
Sun midday–9pm
