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| FISH & BREAD: A BELGIAN CAFE | |
| CLIENT: | The Belgian Cafe |
| LOCATION: | Canterbury, Kent |
| AREA: | 250 sqm |
| VALUE: | £250,000 |
| PROCUREMENT: | Traditional |
Located within Canterbury’s historical town centre in the shadow of the West End of the Cathedral, the building, locally known as Deakin & Sons (after a Gentleman’s tailors that inhabited the site for over 100 years), has evidence of built fabric from as early as the Roman times, and is sited on a prominent crossroads corner.
Fleet have been appointed to facilitate the conversion of the Grade II listed shop into a multi-purpose retail and leisure development, to match the atmosphere and ideology of the Client’s existing Belgian Café, Ramsgate. Although the heart of the scheme is a restaurant/ bar, the local development plan would not allow for such a direct change of use, instead requiring the reinforcement of the retail frontages. As such the open plan GF interior has been zoned to form a Bakery, Wet Fish shop and café/ restaurant area, all of which have the capacity to work independently and as part of the whole.The historically sensitive site required a balance of conservation and reinvigoration – including opening up selected areas of the Ground Floor shop frontage with large Victorian shop sashes that open the interiors onto the street, and careful positioning of perimeter benching that has multiple uses, from produce display to the social theatre of dining. Conservation Area status has also brought interior renovation into focus, with which we have retained as many internal finishes, fixtures and fittings as is practical. The wet fish shop is a new marble clad insertion into the existing fabric, whilst the vertical circulation is remodelled in order to enable fire protected access to a banqueting hall, external roof terrace, well-appointed kitchens at first floor level, and office and storage on level 2.
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