Owned by David and Helen Dodd since 2016. Forty-one square metres of walk-in cellar on the ground floor; thirty-two Enomatic dispensers and deep-green Chesterfield sofas in The Wine Library upstairs. Pour your own glass in any of three measures, taste what you would never otherwise open a bottle of, and ask whoever's behind the counter why we're carrying it.
Ground floor
A walk-in cellar of old world, new world, organic, biodynamic, orange, low- and no-alcohol bottles. Every wine on the shelf has been tasted by the team before it goes on. One of the largest English-wine retailers in the country, with the Country Spotlight rotation taking in Chile, Greece, South Africa and Wales alongside the regulars.
Upstairs · since November 2017
Thirty-two bottles live on Enomatic dispensers above the shop. Pre-load a card at the bar, choose 25ml, 75ml or 125ml, serve yourself, taste as many or as few as you like. Curated quarterly so the lineup mixes one or two genuinely rare bottles with weekday everyday drinking.
Up to thirty guests
Three hundred pounds flat for a six-to-ten booking, afternoons by request. No corkage. Bottles bought from the shop downstairs at retail. Two tasting formats: six wines on value, or six wines that lean Champagne and Burgundy. Bring your own food, or arrange catering through us.
UK-wide delivery
Curated mixed cases, single bottles, gift cards and seasonal packs. Free local delivery in Cheltenham, free in-store collection, nationwide delivery on next weekday for orders in by midday. The whole range, including the bottles that never make supermarket shelves, one click from anywhere in the UK.
Above the shop is a room David and Helen Dodd built in November 2017 around a bank of Enomatic dispensers. Pre-load a card downstairs, walk up, choose a 25ml taste, a 75ml small glass or a 125ml full glass, and serve yourself. No bar staff to perform in front of, no minimum spend, no £9 corkage. Twenty-five seats across deep-green Chesterfield sofas and bar stools, two Georgian windows looking onto Andover Road, copper-base coffee tables.
“A visit to the Wine Library is a one of a kind experience in Gloucestershire and as far as we're aware, it's the only place of its kind in the Cotswolds too.”
The Cotswold Food Blog, October 2019
The Wine Library · first floor The Enomatic system keeps each bottle under an argon-gas seal at cellar temperature, so a bottle stays drinkable for around twenty-one days. That is what makes it economic to keep thirty-two bottles on tap at once, including the ones you would never normally see by the glass. Pours from around £2 a taste.
A flight of three or four, side by side. The 25ml lets you compare a Sancerre against a Pouilly-Fumé without committing to two full glasses.
A proper restaurant pour. The 75ml is what most regulars settle on once they’ve found something they like.
For when you’ve decided. Or for the £8 glass of a £150 Burgundy you’d never otherwise buy a bottle of.
Monthly themed tastings from £17.50 · Meet-the-Maker evenings · Saturday Club afternoons · six-wine flights at private hire from £35 a head
Tivoli Wines opened on Andover Road in 2010, named for the regency neighbourhood just south of Cheltenham town centre. In October 2016 David and Helen Dodd bought the shop and moved in full time, David trading nearly twenty years of corporate property strategy for the counter. The following November they opened The Wine Library upstairs.
The Library was the thing. Most independent wine shops sell you a bottle and hope you come back. The Dodds wanted somewhere a customer could try ten Burgundies in an evening before deciding which one they actually wanted to take home. The Enomatic system is what makes that possible at a shop our size, and the upstairs room is what makes it feel like sitting down with a friend rather than standing at a counter being lectured at.
Today the shop runs seven days a week. The Library is open most Tuesday to Saturday evenings, plus monthly themed tastings, Meet-the-Maker nights with the people who actually grew the grapes, and private hire for parties of up to thirty. The team is small: David runs the shop floor and English-sparkling tours, Lucie looks after the Library calendar and the front-of-house, and Tina has been on the counter at 56 Andover Road for longer than she hasn't.
Owner
Bought Tivoli Wines with Helen in October 2016 after nearly twenty years advising on corporate property strategy. Hosts the English sparkling tour. The David’s Favourites collection is his.
Sales
On the floor at 56 Andover Road for longer than she hasn’t. Started one day a week, never quite stopped. The customer who walks in not knowing what they want generally leaves with Tina’s pick.
Marketing & Library Events
Joined in 2021 after years as a customer. Runs the email and social channels, helps on the shop floor, and looks after the Wine Library events calendar upstairs.
The Enomatic Wine Library is the only set-up of its kind we know of in the Cotswolds. Most by-the-glass programmes anywhere are limited by how fast a bottle goes flat once it's open. The Enomatic gets around that with three pieces of engineering, which is the only reason we can offer thirty-two bottles on tap at once instead of the usual six or eight.
Up to thirty guests, six to ten in the evening, £300 for the room. Bottles from the shop downstairs at retail, no corkage. Two tasting formats if you want them. Six wines on value at £35 a head, or six wines that lean Champagne and Burgundy at £50. Bring your own food, or we'll suggest catering.
Tivoli sits in the regency neighbourhood just south of Cheltenham town centre, walkable from Montpellier in five minutes and the Promenade in ten. Free on-street parking on side roads after 6pm. The Library is upstairs, behind the green door to the right of the shop.
The Wine Library upstairs is open Tuesday to Saturday afternoons and evenings, around shop hours, when there isn't a private event booked. If you're making a special trip, ring the shop on 01242 269886 first.
Anything we haven't covered, ring the shop on 01242 269886 or email shop@tivoliwinescheltenham.co.uk. The Library calendar is on the events page.
Walk-ins are welcome on Tuesday to Saturday afternoons and evenings whenever there is no private event running. If you are coming in a group of six or more, or making a special trip, give the shop a ring on 01242 269886 first so we can make sure the room is set for you. Private bookings take priority on the calendar.
No prior knowledge required, ever. The Enomatic card system means you serve yourself, so there is no bar staff to perform in front of. Pours start at around £2 for a 25ml taste of an everyday bottle and go up from there. A full evening of careful comparison across six or eight wines tends to come out around £25 to £35 a head. Monthly themed tastings start at £17.50.
Each bottle sits inside a temperature-controlled cabinet under an argon-gas seal. Argon is inert and heavier than air, so it displaces the oxygen above the wine in the bottle the moment it is open. A bottle on the Enomatic stays drinkable for around twenty-one days, where the same bottle on a normal bar would be flat in two. That is what makes the upstairs lineup of thirty-two bottles, including the rarer ones, economically possible for a shop our size.
Both. Gift cards in any amount, redeemable in the shop and online. Curated mixed cases at three price points, hand-picked by Tina and David, with tasting notes for each bottle. If you are buying for someone specific, ring the shop and tell us a couple of bottles they have liked before and we will put together a six that builds out from there.
Yes. A working spirits range including international gins, mezcal, cachaça, pisco and a small selection of single malts. A short, careful beer shelf. Alcohol-free wines and aperitifs that are actually drinkable, including some we taste with customers in the Library who are driving or off the drink for the month.