Its famous tearoom based on Skinner Street, offers white table service and a quintessentially English tea experience, whilst the bustling Baxtergate store has a small café area providing a haven for weary shoppers popping in for quick bite.
The Skinner Street premises are situated in a grand building with tall ceilings, cornices and large windows. The tearoom on the upper floor is split into two rooms; the larger of which is filled with light and a great favourite of regular clientele and visitors alike.
The smaller, featureless, secondary room is less popular, being towards the back of the building, and generally avoided by clients preferring the ambience of the larger, lighter room.
Our brief was to refresh the tired traditional décor without alienating existing clients, whilst at the same time, elevating the smaller room in importance, improving its ambience and creating one tearoom as opposed to two distinct areas.
New lighting was installed in the form of feature wall lights and a new bespoke carpet was laid throughout the whole area.
Existing architectural features were augmented by sympathetic replacement of those fallen victim to successive refurbishments and alterations over the years. Dado rails and architraves were added to both rooms to add texture, authenticity and interest.
A feature wall of rich mahogany timbers was created in the rear room, serving as a focal point and drawing clientele into the rear room and continuing on from the existing mahogany serving counters.
Walls were covered with luxury paper; below the dado rail a madras print was used, whilst the upper walls featured a beautiful, classic and traditional damask print.
Baxtergate; part of the shop, this small but bustling café is popular with shoppers looking for a brief respite and a quick bite to eat. Showing signs of wear, befitting its popularity, we were asked to give it a facelift.
Worn, faded velour banquets were replaced with hardwearing contract suede effect fabric. We created a feature wall to provide a focal point that did not overpower the small area. Well-used generic “pine effect” furniture was replaced with classic lightweight walnut tables and chairs to give a bistro feel.
