A holding device for a beverage container intended for installation in a holdable arm rest in a motor vehicle, has a carriage guidable as a drawer to be displaceable back and forth between a pushed-in position and a pulled-out position so that a beverage container can be inserted into the holding device when the carriage is in the pulled-out position, a guide for guiding the carriage during its displacement between the positions, a gravity locking device which locks the carriage in the pushed-in position when the carriage is not in an approximately horizontal position.