Gracie’s Hampstead: Luxury Restaurant, Cafe Bar and Retail on Hampstead High Street, London
A compact two-level unit on Hampstead High Street. Multiple functions – daytime cafe, specialty retail, evening restaurant and bar – all running simultaneously within a footprint that posed a genuine commercial question before a single design decision was made.
Common Ground Workshop’s answer, for hospitality client Culinary Grace, was restraint over statement.
Warm plaster walls, bespoke oak joinery and stone-topped tables form the material backbone of the space. Crittall-style windows at both the street frontage and rear elevation draw natural light and greenery from the high street and rear courtyard deep into the interior – making the space feel generous without enlarging it. The retail offer, curated natural wine and specialty coffee, is built into the architecture itself, not added on top. Bespoke shelving, a ribbed service counter and a glass display case work as spatial elements as much as commercial ones.
Seasonal wildflower arrangements, specified as part of the design brief rather than the styling, complete the connection between inside and out. At Gracie’s, the exterior is always present.
The result is a space that works spatially, commercially and atmospherically and that resonates immediately with the Hampstead community it was designed for.
A challenging unit is rarely a design problem. It’s usually a briefing calibration.
Photographs: https://alexdormonphotography.com/
Client
Culinary Grace
Location
Hampstead Highstreet, London
Budget
Confidential
Status
Completed
