A well-designed pub or bar can make all the difference when it comes to attracting and retaining customers. From traditional pubs to modern, cutting-edge, niche bars, there are certain aspects of design that should be taken into account in order to create the perfect atmosphere. The following list highlights our TOP 10 BEST practices for pub and bar design, offering tips and insights to help you create a space that stands out. If you are looking to redesign or create a new bar, pub, or restaurant, keep Tempo Designs in mind as a resource. We are only a quick message away from partnering up to make your dream bar a reality!
Gallagher’s Restaurant and Bar, Waterloo, IL
The List
Incorporate technology: From interactive displays to smart lighting, incorporating technology can help create a unique and engaging experience for customers. Incorporating technology helps in so many aspects of how a bar is run. Technology design must run throughout an entire bar design, including everything from easily controlled ambience with lighting, to well-placed secure paypoints, to properly dealing with sanitation, to helping maximize the efficiency of you and your staff’s time in preparing drink orders and your meals. Technology can often be key to how smooth an operation runs on a daily basis.
Maximize space: Make the most of your space by carefully considering the layout, furniture, and lighting. Maximizing space flow is a subject that a bar owner should constantly revisit as they learn more about how patrons function in their establishment. Primarily, the overall structure needs to be considered. But then the moving parts, such as table settings, point-of-sale booths, corridors, and other functions, need to be constantly thought about and updated as technology replaces some of the larger physical needs. Your customers need to be able to quickly and naturally read the flow in a room, in order to move through easily without interrupting those who are enjoying a meal or more personal space.
Create a focal point: A standout feature, such as a distinctive bar or a statement wall, can draw customers in and set the tone for the rest of the space. The focal point of a room or bar can be refocused to have less detail, with fewer, large-scaled architectural elements, in order to allow people entering the space to read the area more quickly. A thoughtful and skilled aesthetic allows customers to quickly understand the unique rhythms and flow of your unique bar, and how it functions. One or two main elements in a room, like a center chandelier and a formal bar, can be the two-man statements offered in a space, while everything else is simplified to serve architecturally in support of those two items. This means that peoples eyes are not traveling in every direction in order to absorb the room, but rather can calmly and pleasantly walk-through it. The focal points are the anchors that guide them.
Experiment with color: Use color to create mood, highlight features, and define areas within the pub or bar. The hues, values, and tones of your establishment can hide or define features that you either do or don’t want your customers to see. They can also work hand-in-hand with architectural, lighting, and other sense features to elicit emotional responses from your clientele. Textures play an incredibly important part in establishing the finish of surfaces, as well. Which brings us to point number 5… materials!
Invest in quality local materials: This is a passionate subject here at Tempo Designs. Investment in high-quality materials, such as premium woods and metals, can add durability and appeal to the space. Always look for possible local materials. They can be extremely interesting to source and use. Often the local clientele will not know why they are already somewhat familiar with the interiors, but it will reflect materials used in craft in older establishments in their area and if it is worked into a modern aesthetic, it can breathe a fresh aesthetic that can be enjoyed and also maintain a deep familiarity to the clientele. They will connect with the material at a subconscious level. It is also great for the climate to use materials that are local and support local small businesses that prepare these materials for construction and the craftsman that cleverly crafts them into the new aesthetic.
Make the most of natural light: Utilize natural light to create a warm and inviting atmosphere, while also reducing energy costs. Any good natural light will reduce daytime costs and bring its own ambience to a room. It is important to work with daytime, natural ambience with minimal enhancement in areas that may need some additional lighting. The daytime lighting will show a space in a completely different light to nighttime ambience, and they both have their own special enjoyment and merit.
Encourage socialization: Consider the flow of the space and incorporate areas for socializing, such as communal tables and lounge seating. Encouraging socialization through good spatial design allows your audience to have an enhanced experience. Be thoughtful to create some generous special areas and seating so that people may naturally mingle out of the way off the main flow of customers.
Consider sustainability: Implement environmentally friendly practices, such as using energy-efficient lighting or upcycled or repurposed materials. Find locally-sourced materials and creatively imagine how you might integrate them into your unique space. You will often find that these types of materials may also save you a lot of money.
Offer a unique experience: Offer something that sets your pub or bar apart from the competition, such as a signature cocktail or unique event space. Focus on making the experience truly unique. Reconsider everything about your business to align with current thinking, current aesthetics, and local materials and businesses. Create a unique brand around those things and reinforce it constantly, and pleasantly, in your bar environment.
Personalize the space: Incorporate elements that reflect the personality and character of your establishment and your patrons, such as custom artwork or personalized signage by bar customers. Personalize your space to incorporate your unique brand. Your bar or pub’s character should make people feel comfortable and reinforce their experience to be there. Find uniqueness in shapes and designs so that people remember the feeling of being there, and enjoying the space, so that they will want to become regulars.
Gallagher’s Restaurant and Bar, Waterloo, IL
TL;DR The best practices for pub and bar design are constantly evolving, but incorporating these elements into your design can help create a space that is both functional and visually stunning. By focusing on technology, maximizing space, creating a focal point, and personalizing the space through locally sourced and upcycled materials, you can create an environment that draws customers in and keeps them coming back for more.
