London & South East Premier Hospitality

A revamp for Carom Soho

Carom Restaurant & Bar, Soho, London
Written by Roma Publications

Carom Restaurant & Bar, Soho, London

D&D London have recently refurbished their Soho site, Carom Soho, in a bid to freshen up the venue’s dark interior.

The 120 cover venue offers diners authentic pan-Indian cuisine and boasts an exciting, innovative menu and cocktail list for guests to enjoy in the newly refurbished space.

Premier Hospitality caught up with Ali Morton, Creative Director of project designers AM-Creative, to find out more about the development. Ali told us:

“We have worked with D & D London previously, on other projects, and so they asked us to take look at the Carom refurbishment before awarding us the job. We began the design process in April 2014 and worked alongside the owners for a while developing ideas, then I began ordering products, a lot of which were made off site, before we began the installation in early August.

“They wanted to transform the venue; changing the existing red and black colour scheme and give it an industrial, New York loft-feel. We retained some of original features such as the marble curved bar which runs all the way along the left hand side of the venue. The floor was also maintained and so we tried to blend the original features with a New York feel.”

Carom Restaurant & Bar, Soho, London

Ali said the venue boasts a plethora of metallic hues, blue tones and industrial features, as well as a range of quirky vintage pieces. The dark colours have been altered to a brighter colour palette keeping the space appealing for daytime dining; due to the lighting being dimmed the space also adapts to an evening destination.

The venue comprises an impressive new atrium lounge bar area which boasts a large chandelier located under a conservatory roof. The venue also contains the main restaurant area as well as a private dining room and an impressive, new Corian island bar which can be used for both eating and drinking.

The new bar is a great feature piece of the restaurant as it utilises an area of Carom that prior to the refurbishment wasn’t very well used. The bar is made from Carion and boasts uplit metallic panels and compliments the original main curved bar. The renovation works and the new bar have given the area a new lease of life.

The venue’s different zones feature some incredible vintage features including stunning 1920’s chandeliers which have been sourced from a French ballroom and installed above the new feature bar area.

Carom Restaurant & Bar, Soho, London

Carom also contains lot of freestanding vintage tripod film lights which have been sourced from film sets, adding a quirky feel to the venue. Numerous other features include interesting vintage mirrors, bespoke English wooden timber tables; a 1920’s drink trolley which is used as a side table and to serve cocktails off as well as stunning marble dining tables.

The venue opened after an impressive six day turn around, which began at the start of August this year, and since opening has seen a major boost in trade. The on site team worked 24 hour shifts for the six days so that the venue could be closed for the minimal amount of time; due to there being no structural changes the works were completed on time.

Carom is now a very flexible venue, boasting ideal facilities for both day and night dining, and drinking. Ali commented:

“It is great to have been involved with the Carom refurbishment project and see such a transformation. It has been amazing to see the ideas come to life; I was really pleased with the feature pieces especially the chandeliers and quirky wall papers.”

Carom Restaurant & Bar, Soho, London

Pro-Surface specialise in the fabrication and installation of solid surface materials using the latest CNC technology to 2D and 3D thermoforming. The company is able to create a truly bespoke service and has been in operation for the past seven years.

Working on Carom Soho, Pro-Surface fabricated and installed the main island bar using Burled Beach Corian and fabricated and installed table tops from Sagebrush Corian.

Commenting on the project, Tobias Murdoch of Pro-Surfaces, said:

“It was important to us to be involved in this project as it provided the opportunity to showcase what can be achieved with Corian; demonstrating the possibilities that you can achieve from this material.”

Fine Finishing 

Fine Finishing is a specialist metal finishing business based in Oxfordshire offering a total finishing solution for the interiors and the engineering industry. The firm have an array of specialist facilities including on site media blasting, painting polishing and powder coating.

Carom Restaurant & Bar, Soho, London

Most recently the firm have worked on the development of Carom Soho, D & D London’s latest venue. We caught up with Jack Amies, Director of Fine Finishing, to find out more about the project. Jack said:

“At Carom Soho we restored 85 metal dining chairs and manufactured some mesh sliding doors. It was good to be involved with this project as recycling and rejuvenating good quality original items is very important at the moment for designers.

“It is very expensive to create new furniture when you can re-condition good quality originals.”

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Roma Publications