| Next edition | May 2027 · Olympia London |
|---|---|
| Starting price | £3,950+ |
| Venue | Olympia London |
| Next edition | May 2027 |
| Buyers | 10,000+ |
| Exhibitors | 400+ |
| Quote turnaround | 48hr |
The London Wine Fair Stand Builders: Olympia Logistics, the Drinks Buyer, and What Wins Listings
The London Wine Fair is the UK's largest trade drinks show, held each May under the great glass roof of Olympia London and co-located with the spirits event Signature Serve. It brings more than 10,000 drinks-industry professionals — importers, distributors, retailers, sommeliers, hospitality buyers and media — together with 400-plus wine, spirits and producer exhibitors over three days.
The brief here is tasting plus selling: buyers choose what they'll list by what's in the glass, so the stand has to pour well, present the range and producers clearly, and give your team space to talk distribution and listings. With a knowledgeable trade crowd moving across a busy hall, the stand has to make tasting easy and the conversation that follows comfortable.
Because it's a relationship-led trade show, a credible, well-poured presence matters: buyers reward producers and importers who present their wines properly.
For an importer or producer that means a stand that pours well and sells well: present the portfolio, make tasting effortless, and keep a calm corner to talk listings. The exhibitors who win distribution design for the glass and the deal together.
Building at Olympia London: the rules that shape your stand
Olympia London has been through a major redevelopment, but its halls remain Grade II listed with a glazed barrel roof, so rigging points and floor loadings are more constrained than a modern box hall. We confirm the current technical manual each edition and check available rigging points before committing to a design that relies on them.
Complex and double-deck stands need structural drawings and method statements submitted to the organiser's appointed contractor for approval; we prepare these in-house so approval isn't the thing that delays your build. Raised floors need accessible ramped edges, finishes use water-based paint on site, and every structure must be self-supporting.
Access is through fixed loading points with tighter vehicle access than a purpose-built exhibition hall, so we size crates and time deliveries around the loading schedule rather than turning up and queuing for the dock. As at most central-London venues, messy fabrication isn't practical in-hall, so stands are finished and inspected at our workshop and assembled clean on the floor.
What a winning wine-trade stand needs
The stands that win listings do three things: they present the range and producers so a buyer understands what you offer at a glance, they make tasting effortless, and they give you somewhere to sit and talk terms. We design a clear, well-lit display of the range, a pouring or tasting point with the right glassware, chilling, water and waste provision built in, and a meeting spot for the listings and distribution conversation — plus discreet storage for cases, glassware and spit buckets.
Practicality shapes the design: where you chill, pour, rinse and bin determines the layout, so we plan the bar or tasting counter and its services from the first sketch rather than bolting them on.
Lighting and presentation do quiet work here: wine and spirits look like the considered purchase they are under good light on a clean, well-built counter, so we light the bottles and the bar properly rather than leaving them flat.
Tasting is the sale — design for it
Buyers list what they've tasted, so the tasting experience is the heart of the stand. We design the pouring flow so a busy tasting moves, the wines or spirits are presented at their best, and your team can pour and talk at the same time without the counter jamming at peak. Chilling, water and glassware are scoped against your range and planned in early, because a tasting stand that can't keep wine at the right temperature or keep glasses clean simply doesn't work.
For producers exhibiting within a regional or national pavilion, we design a stand that fits the shared identity while still letting your label stand out.
We also plan for peak: the busiest tasting hours decide whether a stand copes or jams, so we size the counter, chilling and glassware for the rush, not the average.
Cases, chilling and glassware: tasting logistics at Olympia
A wine stand is heavy and perishable in ways most aren't: cases of stock, chilled storage, glassware and ice all have to reach the stand and be managed through three days. Olympia's goods lifts and access points have real size and weight limits, so we plan how your cases, chillers and bar equipment get in and where they're stored, and build the tasting counter with enough chilled space and glass storage for the volume you expect to pour.
We also plan the unglamorous essentials — water, rinsing, ice and waste — and discreet back-of-stand storage for cases, spit buckets and glassware, because a tasting bar that runs out of chilled wine or clean glasses at the busy hour loses exactly the buyers you came for.
We label and stage the cases by the order you will pour them, so restocking the bar mid-show is quick and your team is never hunting through storage while a buyer waits to taste.
What a London Wine Fair stand costs
A turnkey stand typically runs roughly £3,950–£12,500 for a compact custom build, £12,500–£28,000 for a mid-size build with a serviced tasting bar and meeting space, and £28,000 and up for a flagship build. The quote is turnkey — design, build, graphics, lighting, delivery to Olympia, install, dismantle and the venue paperwork are all included — and the tasting-bar fit-out, chilling and bespoke display usually move the number.
Because the value is in the listings and distribution deals that follow, the spend that pays back is in a tasting setup that works smoothly and a stand that presents the wines as well as they deserve — not in scale for its own sake.
Stand sizes and layouts
Stands run from compact spaces for individual producers and small importers up to large builds for distributors with broad portfolios. The layout balances range display and tasting with the order conversation, so we keep the bar and labels where the aisle sees them and a calm spot to talk listings. We size and arrange the stand around your portfolio, your pouring volume and how many buyers you want to host.
Whatever the size, we protect a calm spot to talk terms, because the listing conversation is where a good tasting turns into distribution, and a stand that's all bar and no selling space leaves the deal half-done.
Lighting matters as much as space: a well-lit bottle and a clean, well-built bar make a wine look like the quality it is, so even a compact stand earns its keep when the range is presented properly.
Reusing your stand between editions
Importers and producers exhibit at the fair every year and often at other trade tastings too, so a modular, reusable stand is excellent value. We store the core and refresh the graphics, portfolio display and tasting layout for each edition, keeping your services plan on file — so you arrive each May with a current, well-presented stand rather than a rebuild, and can adapt as your portfolio changes.
Because the drinks calendar runs to several tastings and trade fairs a year, a stand that packs down and travels cleanly between them is worth far more than a one-off, and we plan the bar and chilling to repeat easily at each venue.
Next step for your The London Wine Fair stand
Send us your space size, hall position and goals for The London Wine Fair. You'll get a custom 3D concept and a fixed, all-inclusive quote within 48 hours — designed to Olympia's rules, with structural sign-off built into the timeline if your design needs it. We build in-house and install at Olympia London, so the stand you approve in the rendering is the stand that opens.
We also design and build exhibition stands for other major UK shows — see the full show calendar for food, drink & hospitality and beyond, all with the same in-house team, fixed all-in pricing and full venue paperwork.