Eat, drink and relax in comfort at The Beech House in Beaconsfield’s new town area, whether for business or pleasure. The Beech House offers a bar, restaurant and café facility boasting all day dining and elegant décor.
The design of the venue, undertaken by London and Sheffield based interior designers and architects People in Space, is based around the concept of all day dining, using materials in keeping with the casual approach and mixed menu.
People in Space were asked to create an 80 cover restaurant in an ex retail unit, suitable for flexible all day usage; from a morning café to an evening bar and restaurant area, creating a new focus outside High Street in Beaconsfield as well as keeping a theme with the restaurant’s name.
The restaurant, owned by Oakman Inns, cost £850,000 to develop and consists of both internal and external dining areas. The project converted an old retail unit into a modern public house and restaurant at the heart of the community; meeting the requirements of the contemporary restaurant goer whilst retaining the traditional warmth, hospitality and comfort of a local pub.
In keeping with Oakman Inns signature style, the restaurant houses an open plan kitchen featuring a charcoal fuelled Josper oven, an open fire in the bar area and al fresco pavement seating, adding another 40 covers to the restaurants total.
The interior has a variety of classic tables and chairs, as well as open booth dining areas which separate the space. The project included the installation of a brand new 40 square meters glass roof, contrasting with the lower slatted ceiling in the existing part of the property. While the emphasis is on materials, the colour scheme throughout is natural, containing neutral shades and pops of green, with the exception of the red leather seating to the rear. Outside, the restaurant’s pavement dining area is adorned with plants and café style seating.
The materials used are majority reclaimed, to give the venue an on trend, worn in, homely look whilst still being practical and hard wearing.
Speaking to Premier Hospitality about the design, Basil Smith, co-owner of People in Space said:
“The restaurant is open all day so it’s that which influenced the design. We used a lot of reclaimed and weathered materials and the idea behind using those was to make it feel worn; something which we as a company love the look of and enjoy combining reclaimed pieces with new materials. Something like worn concrete or timber, which there’s a lot of in The Beech House, is interesting and adds some character to an uninteresting building as well as being much more relaxed.”
The restaurant prides itself in Mediterranean influenced food and modern British dishes using meats from an award winning supplier. The food menu is extensive and varied offering breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, a Sunday menu and a children’s menu. The menu caters for a range of dietary requirements.
Breakfast delivers eggs Benedict, big breakfasts and French toast stacks. Lunch sees ciabatta sandwiches, grilled vegetables and parmesan fries. For evening, tasty sharing platters, risotto specials, pasta dishes and fresh fish are accompanied by Josper grill options, pork belly bites and a bread basket. Children’s meals are also available.
The bar serves real ales, international lagers, cocktails, soft drinks and a range of carefully selected fine wines. Coffee, tea and other hot drinks are available to drink in or take-away with accompaniments including fresh cakes, pastries and slices – perfect for relaxing coffee mornings, business meetings or social catch-ups.
Speaking to us about the project and its involvement in the Restaurant and Bar Design Awards, Basil Smith added:
“We specialise in bar and restaurant designs and enjoy doing them the most out of all of our architectural work. The most rewarding part of the process is people enjoying the space, and using it the way it was intended, meeting up and enjoying themselves over good quality food and drink. Having a client that allows us to be creative is something we love, and to be recognised for our creativity and hard work being short listed in the Restaurant and Bar Design awards is fantastic.”
For more information on The Beech House please visit www.thebeechhouse.co.uk
Fairland Contractors Ltd
Set up in 1990 by Jim Sutherland, Fairland Contractors Ltd is one of the country’s leading specialists in public house and leisure refurbishments. Based in Watford, the award-winning company work on projects throughout the UK, but most of its work takes place in London and the South East of England.
For the past 24 years, Fairland Contractors Ltd has specialised in delivering first class construction projects within the leisure industry. Past works for Fairland Contractors Ltd include stores for Cath Kidston and Hotel Chocolat, as well as The Beech House.
Discussing The Beech House, Mark Lenihan, Contracts Manager for Fairland Contractors Ltd, said:
“This project was very important for us to be involved with and like all our projects allowed us to demonstrate the excellent quality of our product and the speed with which we turn around our work.”
