The Potting Shed

Instead of Sleeping Around this week, we are lazing around in our restaurant, The Potting Shed at Dorset Square Hotel.  It is set in a beautiful Regency townhouse overlooking a leafy private garden square, which was originally the site of Thomas Lord’s first cricket ground.

The restaurant is split into two, with a restaurant dining area on one side, and a more informal bar on the other. In the bar we have two architectural alcoves set back from the space, which, instead of filling in, we have used to our advantage and created private banquette seating areas that are backlit. Perfect for a cosy evening filled with chit chat!

The Potting Shed is an unusual space with different levels and walls that jut out in all directions. To celebrate these unique features, we have used a variety of green tones of paint on the walls, creating a subtle difference between spaces.

The majority of the dining chairs have been upholstered in my ‘Lost & Found’ fabric for Christopher Farr Cloth in green. The top third of each chair is in alternating imperial yellow or green leaf leather by Altfield.  We used this combination of leathers to keep the restaurant from looking too uniform.  The coloured leathers are repeated on the bar stools to unify the space.

The banquette seating throughout the restaurant has been upholstered in Pierre Frey’s ‘Anouki’ fabric, an embroidered, colourful geometric stripe.  This same fabric has been used on several of the dining chairs and our small cube stools in the bar.

On the back wall, 192 individual ceramic cups sit within a bespoke shelving unit. These pots, by artist Martha Freud, are all decorated with the tiniest of pin pricks, revealing different cricketing phrases as they light up in sequence.  She also made four butterfly pendant lights in the bar area, which add a touch of delicacy to the bold restaurant.

Photographic realist painter, Peter Rocklin, painted two large artworks which hang behind the large communal dining table. We serve a buffet on this table every morning for breakfast. Our guests often comment on Rocklin’s work, and as art enthusiasts, we love to hear people adore his work as much as we do.

An array of architectural moulds sit against the chalky green backdrop. They range from Griffin gargoyles and ancient looking sphinxes to cornicing details and floral leaf shapes. These moulds line the walls in no particular order, creating a truly eclectic collection.