The Green Man & French Horn

The refurbishment and fit out of a restaurant unit at ground and basement levels in the Covent Garden conservation area in London. Formerly a traditional London Public House the property lies on the edge of London’s Theatre District in St Martins Lane.

Its re-birth as a new thriving restaurant was instigated by the upper floors being refurbished, extended and converted into residential accommodation, crucially with new vertical services incorporated to enable an extensive kitchen and fully air-conditioned restaurant to be designed on the ground and basement floors.

A new shop front was installed following the granting of planning approval, rigorously designed and developed to incorporate comments and advice from the Covent Garden Community Association and near neighbours.

The design of the restaurant itself had several major challenges: to differentiate the restaurant from the vast amount of competition in the area, to fully utilise the depth of the unit (25 m long, 4 m wide) and to highlight the restaurant’s presence despite the narrow frontage.

The aim was to create an informal, intimate and convivial atmosphere to enjoy the food inspired by The Loire and to deliver this in such an efficient manner to avoid any delay or frustration to the clients. The layout of the kitchen has been meticulously planned with large high speed food and service lifts to compensate for the lack of space in the narrow ground floor plan, with loose fitting furniture and individually sourced to maximise flexibility and informality