Grant Ashton, CEO and founder of 67 Pall Mall, tells Lauren Eads about targeting young members, the futility of Michelin stars and taking his brand global. For someone who never intended to work in the wine industry, let alone hospitality, Grant Ashton has done a pretty good job of succeeding in both. Next year will mark 10 years since the former hedge fund manager opened 67 Pall Mall in St James’s, London, and started on a path to becoming a global wine mogul. Although he scoffs at the suggestion, it’s not without merit. The London club remains a Mecca for wine lovers, with 6,000 wines on its list (800 by the glass), and the ‘67 Pall Mall’ brand is now global. The team opened a high-altitude venue in the Swiss Alps resort of Verbier in 2021, a 15,000sq ft club in Singapore’s Orchard Road in 2022, and an en primeur club in Hong Kong in 2024 where “you swing a cat and hit all four walls”, with more venues in the pipeline. The company buys an enormous number of wines every year, and is the world’s biggest user of Coravin, says Ashton. But he’s the first to say that building a wine business on this scale was never the plan. “If I’d understood how much time, effort and money it was going to take, I’d never have done it, absolutely zero chance,” he admits. “If I had turned to my wife and said: ‘By the way,
This Article was originally published on The Drink Business - Fine Wine
