Pub All Day

A couple of weeks ago I went to a very nice and friendly pub called The County Arms, just by Wandsworth Common. They must have hired a nightclub and restaurant interior designer to do out the place, because it is so relaxing that we stayed there all day.

At first you don’t realise how much your environment affects your mood until you find somewhere where the interior design has been done so well that you feel comfortable enough to stay in the space all day.

It wasn’t over done, it wasn’t like a styled out space, it had enough ambiance and the furnishings were kind of rustic but not country styled (that would have looked out of place in a pub in the middle of the city).

Retail Interiors Designed For Multiple Uses

One thing that we liked as well was the interior was not done in a way that made it look ‘designed’.

The County Arms is quite a big pub, but it’s not like a themed pub, with the exact same layout throughout. In some corners three and four seater leather sofas surrounded the low tables, in others, you had 2 or three armchairs with higher dining tables.

The pub has a dining area that is set out for more formal(ish) dining, and still other areas where high tables and stools or long high benches enabled drinkers and diners to look out at the world through the large windows.

The way the interior design has been done in this space makes it usable for many types of patrons. You would feel equally relaxed and ‘at home’ there whether you were with friends or on your own.

The exterior of The County Arms looks like a traditional English pub, indeed it’s run by Youngs Brewery, which is actually a well known brewery in the UK. However (I think in part thanks to the decor and the smoking ban), the interior has a dark but airy feel to it. The lighting is gentle and the use of dark wood and darker reds in the furnishings give it the warm, comfort feel I spoke about earlier. None of your bleached alpine squared off tables or chairs here, however the lighter creams of the paintwork and walls help the space to achieve the lightness quality so important in modern interior design. On a sunny day the combination is unbeatable.

I would really recommend this place as a nice spot to eat and drink if you’re in south west London. The staff were excellent and quite attentive without being overbearing. It is also a family friendly place, there is no problem bringing your kids there. Ok it’s not strictly speaking a nightclub, but in the evenings they have regular live music nights and the food is great too.

I must commend them for creating space that caters for all their different types of clientele. This is a great example of a nightclub; retail; restaurant; interior design that works.

The County Arms 345 Trinity Rd, London, SW18 3SH - 020 88748532

Photo © County Arms

If I Had A Space Like This…

Having an industrialised loft and being able to get great ideas on interior designs that make it a multi-functional space, without it looking cluttered and losing the appeal of an open plan interior is a skill most of us don’t have.

Interior designs require a creative flair, the ability to blend colour with accessories, textures and surfaces to make the interior of your living or working space feel comfortable and look good.

I think I will be moving home soon and the picture below represents the type of live/work space I would like to move into next. In a space this large, it would need an interior design brief that would be able to tackle the living aspects and the work aspects of this type of industrialised loft.

It is large, airy, got good light, has bags of headroom and some tracks, columns and beams to make things interesting. But the space I would be looking for would be a shell, so I would need to find some ideas on interior designs to maximise the potential.

Why can’t I find interiors like this down South?

Almost floor to ceiling windows and great wooden floors. An interior designer would have a field day with this empty space!

In London, most of the good lofts are in East and North London. This is because they were mostly the industrial areas of the city, where the mills, factories and along the river where the cargo warehouses would have been.

 

Photo © Christopher Thiemet

I don’t need this much space to work as a writer, but as a photographer, my lord I could have some fun doing natural light work in a place like this. In the brief for the interior design, I would need to specify that the light, whilst great for most things, including natural light photography, would need to be able to be blacked out completely as well.

I recently went to view a photostudio that was set up in a modernised industrial area. It is one of the few warehouse loft complexes in SW London that are any good. The space is what I would refer to as ‘ideal’ out of which an aspiring portrait photographer could work.

Loft Interior Designs That Work

The interior of the loft was designed over three floors. The studio on the ground, mezzanine office and shooting gallery on the first and living quarters up top.

Try as I might I couldn’t make the budget work for me, without going back to work full time, which of course would negate the need for a studio to work out of during the day.

I must say, the owner was kind enough to show me the living quarters as well, (even though this wasn’t part of the rental). The interior designs that made the space work really well included completely white walls downstairs, but when you went to the upper levels, there was more injection of colour, texture and mood which was set off by modern appliances and lighting.

I also loved the glass bricks used to let light flood the space, without relinquishing all privacy.

Interior Designs Should Be Personal To You And Your Life

Interior design is something I would love to have the skill to do. I know that you can look at what others have done and ‘copy’ it, but this means you are taking on interior designs created for someone else, not for you.

If their interior designer was any good, they would have created the space after meeting with the client several times, to see how they use space, how they function with their existing space and to know a bit about how they intend the use the space for which the design is being done.

Although it may look nice, an interior designed to be used by someone who you know nothing about is not, I think, ideal.

Why go to all the trouble to personalise your living/working space if it really isn’t personal. That is why I am looking for a shell loft apartment, and when I find it, once I’ve done danced a jig and swallowed hard at the commitment to pay rent at what will probably be an astronomical rate, the first thing I will do is commission some interior designs to make the space my very own.