Old Haunts of the Square Mile

Twenty-eight closed City wine bars from the 1999 Evening Standard Guide — the Big Five bar chains that ran the Square Mile between the Big Bang and the smoking ban, all now gone.

The Square Mile ran on wine bars between 1986 and the mid-2000s. Corney & Barrow's bar arm was sold to Drake & Morgan in 2016. Balls Brothers went into administration in 2010; the name survives in a slimmer modern form. Coates — Corney & Barrow's down-market sister brand — didn't outlive the 1990s. Bill Bentley's, absorbed by Young's, ran five City sites in 1999, all now gone. This collection pins every one of them, sourced from the 1999 Evening Standard London Pub & Bar Guide (Edward Sullivan, Simon & Schuster).