Willows & Wine

Willows & Wine is a wine bar and bookshop inside a heritage shopfront on Victoria Street, all dark timber and worn tile beneath hanging woven lamps. The books for sale, and the ones in the library are chosen deliberately: First Nations, Black, queer and disabled writers sit alongside well-thumbed classics, with wine, cheeseboards and cocktails to go with the reading. It has become a fixture of the North and West Melbourne strip on a stretch better known for warehouses than wine bars. Board games and non-alcoholic options are on hand for those not drinking, and the room doubles as a venue for book clubs and author events through the week. A place to arrive without a plan and leave with both a glass emptied and a book chosen.