This busy south London station boasts a secret vineyard – with over 20 Bacchus vines tucked away just metres from the train tracks
I certainly make no secret of the fact that I’m rather passionate about London’s transport network.
Over the past six years, the Camberwell Society has installed around 30 pieces of artwork at Denmark Hill station. There’s a ‘chaos wheel’ made from colourful buckets and a flock of birds created out of milk cartons, just to name a couple of the eye-catching pieces dotted around the transport hub. A plethora of planting has also taken place over the past half-a-decade. There are 56 lavender plants, a whole host of bluebells, crocuses, and daffodils, and – perhaps most impressively – over 20 thriving Bacchus grapevines.
The vines are avidly-attended to by Nick Mair and Tony Coleman, two members of the Camberwell Society. Nick was a keen winemaker in his youth and Tony has a background in construction, making them the pretty perfect pairing for this endeavor. Using vertical posts, the micro-vineyard boasts around 25 Bacchus vines. These particular vines were chosen as they tend to fair pretty well in south-east England.
Just two bottles were produced at the UK’s first station vineyard last year, but 2026 marks the vineyards first year of ‘proper production’. Speaking to MyLondon, Nick said: “The grapes are very sweet. We need a bit of rain to flesh them out a bit, but I think if we got one bottle per vine, that would be good. If you produce too much wine from a vine, then the quality does down. But I think if we got in this our first year of proper production, a bottle per vine, I think be quite happy with that.”
There are currently no plans in the pipeline for this wine – that’s been fondly dubbed ‘Chateau Denmark’ – to be available to buy. But rumour has it that a few bottles may be popped open at the Camberwell Society’s Christmas party to see how it tastes. It’d be rude not to, I suppose.