Graze Bar, Brewery & Chophouse by Simple Simon Design
Bristol-based Simple Simon Design has designed Graze Bar, Brewery & Chophouse in central Bath, UK in collaboration with Bath Ales.
Graze Bar, Brewery & Chophouse is spread over the entire first floor of the new food quarter that has been created in and around the arches of the 19th century railway station, built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
The menu of Graze celebrates top quality British meat. The design team collaborated closely with Robin Couling, the retail director at Bath Ales, to capture this essence. The design draws heavy inspiration from the great steak houses of London and New York. Various novel elements have been introduced in the design such as a meat locker which is visible from the restaurant, counter dining which is rarely seen in the UK outside London now, and a central island bar to maximise service potential on busy days.
The venue is an open-plan space, yet offers intimacy which is evident through a selection of pendant lighting styles and a variety of seating. The layout of the interior is a low-key affair to lay more emphasis on the floor-to-ceiling glass walls which offer panoramic views of the city of Bath.
The bar & restaurant has over 140 covers and features two large terraces for al fresco drinking and dining. The trackside terrace has been broken up into more intimate areas with high rusted metal tanks planted with a range of grasses. The décor is inspired by the High Line in New York, a former railway line, which is a public park now. Various sculptures of white farmyard animals are featured at the venue’s post-industrial garden, highlighting the culinary theme. The venue also features a microbrewery, which brews a bespoke beer.
Internally the whole space is tied together under a sculpted ceiling raft of timber fins, which allows maintenance access to the services above which run across the length of the building. Usage of wood is predominant in the design such as dark stained industrial timber floor, rough sawn oak walls, and stained ash for the bar fronts. The dining counter is finished in Graze’s signature blue brick tiles, set off by a flash of polished copper immediately beneath the two tier counter and repeated in the polished pendants hanging above.
