New bar design offers theatregoers luxurious yet accessible experience at London’s Royal Opera House. The vast Paul Hamlyn Hall at London’s Royal Opera House now hosts a new champagne bar that is 13.5 metres long, has sixteen serving points and is finished to please even the most discerning eye. It can also be disassembled easily.

The design is a result of collaboration between Royal Opera House Restaurants, bespoke bar design specialists, Cantilever Bars, and interior design company, B3 Designers. The brief was to create an elegant and accessible experience for the thousands of theatregoers who move swiftly through the Paul Hamlyn Hall Restaurant and Balconies Restaurant during a short intermission during a performance.

The oval shape of the bar means that customers can be served from all sides and different food offers can be easily displayed. Large table lamps sit on shelves around the space drawing visitors to different corners of the hall. The wall mirror has been extended to the floor, providing a striking addition to the great, bustling room.

The material selection of the bar finishes, as well as the flooring and furniture, echoes many qualities inherent to the space and the food on offer: sophisticated, luxurious, exuding attention to detail and craftsmanship. Scottish quilted leather wraps around the bar front while Finnish Artek chairs stand gracefully on the Hungarian point timber floor.

The Royal Opera House has an inclusive ethos (the open dress code means that visitors can arrive in anything from jeans to evening gowns) and the luxurious yet casual feeling of the space reflects this.

Mark Bithrey, founder of B3, describes the bar as ‘jewel-like’, saying “Our aim is to provide theatregoers with a truly unique experience at one of the most prestigious performance venues in the world”.