IT’S official – Winchester has the best wine bar in the South East.

No 5 Bridge Street won the Best Wine Pub Award at the South East and London BT Sport Great British Pub Awards 2013.

Antony (corr) Robertson, general manager of the Bridge Street bar, said staff were thrilled.

He said: “This is great recognition for all the hard work we have put in. We have worked very hard with our wine company Bibendum to identify the demographic in Winchester and put on a wine list that suits the city and fits with the food we offer.”

The bar has a wide range of wines from across the world including Australia, South Africa and even Hungary.

It also offers special wine tasting nights and ‘wine dinners’ matching wines up with meals.

The awards were organised by leading trade magazine the Publican’s Morning Advertiser and its editor Rob Willock praised the bar for its wine list.

He said: “No.5 Bridge Street is a very worthy winner of the award. The pub has a superb selection of wines, both in number and quality, with a number of wines offered by the glass and carafe.”

The bar will now go on to the national awards held in London on September 12 where it will compete with five other regional winners.

It will also have the opportunity to compete for the overall award - ‘Great British Pub of the Year.’