News / North Street
Bedminster cafe wins prestigious design award
A Bristol business has won a top prize at a prestigious awards ceremony for the second year running.
The team at Paintworks-based Phoenix Wharf won gold for the best hospitality project at the London Design Awards for their work designing The Bristol Loaf on Bedminster Parade.
It comes the year after the designers took another gold for The Yeo Valley Cafe’s first outlet in London..
Phoenix Wharf founder, Chris Gwyther, said: “What these awards highlight is the great entrepreneurialism of the South West in the hospitality field.
“We love working with operators who have both fresh ideas and a real vision. Neither project had the highest budget in the world, so it just goes to show that you don’t have to be in the luxury market to make an impact and a difference. You just have to know your target audience.”
In 2019, Phoenix Wharf took gold at the London Design Awards for the Yeo Valley Cafe on Queensway in west London – photo: Phoenix Wharf
Phoenix Wharf associate creative director, Emma Carter, who led both projects to fruition, said that “Bristol can now compete with any city in the country” when it comes to design.
She said: “What’s also notable about these projects is what a great advocate the South West is for boundary-pushing sustainable design, with both projects featuring re-purposed materials wherever possible, and offering healthy, organic and sustainable food and drink with true community appeal.”
The new space incorporates the Bristol Loaf bakery and cafe, Hugo’s greengrocer, Two Belly cheesemonger, and wine shop The Bristol Vine – photo: Franklin & Franklin
The vision was to create an ethical supermarket that is accessible to all – photo: Franklin & Franklin
The brief for the new site was to create a community foodie hub that widened The Bristol Loaf’s offer but was still visibly linked to the original location in Redfield – photo: Franklin & Franklin
Plants were a key factor that resulted in a high-level wrap-around ceiling feature clad in solid ash slats – photo: Franklin & Franklin
Other requirements of the brief included the use of raw materials, a warm neutral colour palette and bright white tiling to reflect the natural light – photo: Franklin & Franklin
“The design has given Bedminster Parade a unique food and drink proposition, adding theatre to everyday consumption, promoting a more sustainable way to live as well as a central place to go within the community to shop and meet friends and family,” say the Phoenix Wharf team – photo: Franklin & Franklin
Turning a cavernous concrete shell that was previously a garage into a welcoming, warm and inviting space was the first challenge for Phoenix Wharf – photo: Franklin & Franklin
“We wanted to keep raw, exposed materials to retain some of the history of the building so it was important that any new fixtures and fittings worked in harmony,” said the Phoenix Wharf team – photo: Franklin & Franklin
The London Design Awards’ hospitality award “celebrates innovative and creative building interiors, with consideration given to space creation and planning, furnishings, finishes, aesthetic presentation and functionality. Consideration also given to space allocation, traffic flow, building services, lighting, fixtures, flooring, colours, furnishings and surface finishes” – photo: Franklin & Franklin
Main photo of Bristol Loaf: Franklin & Franklin
Read more: Championing women in design
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