A neighbourhood café where one oak counter runs from the door to the back wall.
Weekday serves the same regulars every morning. The brief was a room that works for a five-minute coffee and a two-hour laptop session without feeling like either.
We gave everything to a single continuous counter. It is the bar, the pastry case, the window ledge and the long table, all in one piece of oak.
Client
Weekday Coffee Co.
Location
London, United Kingdom
Year
2024
Scope
Interior fit-out
Area
95 m²
Status
Completed
Collaborators
Hale Joinery
Photography
Anna Lowe
THE SITE
A deep, narrow room with one good window.
The unit is four metres wide and twenty deep, with light only at the street end. The counter pulls you past the queue toward the back.
We kept the original brick on the party walls and lime-washed it. It bounces the morning light deeper into the room.
“People come for the coffee and stay for the counter.”
Weekday Coffee Co.
Three materials that take daily wear well.
Timber
Solid white oak, oiled
The counter is designed to be sanded back and re-oiled every few years.
Plaster
Lime wash on brick
Breathes, softens the light, and touches up in an afternoon.
Textile
Undyed wool felt
Bench cushions and acoustic panels that quiet the espresso machine.
PROCESS
Sketch to site.
01
Sketch
Counting the morning queue, hour by hour.
02
Plan
One counter drawn first; everything else followed.
03
Render
Oak samples left on the old bar for a month.
04
Built
Fitted out in six weeks, closed only for ten days.