The Lisini Pub Company never does anything by halves and the Lanarkshire-based hospitality business has managed to refurbish a few areas in two of its four venues – Angels in Uddingston and Dalziel Park Hotel and Golf Club in Motherwell – during these challenging times. All design briefs were on the table well before COVID-19 and one element couldn’t have been better timed considering the post- lockdown: the importance of outdoor areas.
Explained Lisini’s Marketing and Purchasing Director, Siobhan Edwards, “ Back in March before COVID there were two design briefs on the table. My sister – Lisa Wishart, our MD – was leaning more toward adding some sparkle to the restaurant at Angels, whereas I felt that we should have a third space outside with its own bar to replace the temporary one, complete with kiosk-ordering on phones to minimise queues. We went with creating a third, outdoor space in the end and then COVID came, so you could say that it was perfect timing, because hospitality businesses were, and still are, having to maximise their outdoor offerings in order to adapt.”
Managing the flow of customers coming into Angels was also something that they wanted to achieve with the changes, as well as make the venue a destination for all-comers and at all times of the day.
Said Siobhan, “We wanted customers to be able to come in off the street and every single time enjoy a heated, comfortable environment and order breakfast, lunch, or dinner and experience real al fresco dining, whatever the weather and we have got that covered with an awning that was specially designed in Holland so that we can use it all year round. Neither did we want customers to have to second guess whether or not they had to come into the bar just to order a drink of if they could just take a seat outside. We also wanted a contactless experience too of course, which is now in place.”
The new exterior bar itself, which has been designed by Frank Adams, sounds like it’s going to be the jewel in the crown of the outdoor area. It was still in transit at the time of us going to press, so we’ll paint a picture for you – it combines cut glass inside, cork, a living wall of fresh mint, and all to beautiful effect, plus it also has coffee on draught. Also looking good in the outside area is all the new seating, including some higher tables and it has to be said that while this area looks wonderful during the day, it takes on a something magical in the evening because of the use of the lighting.
The restaurant in Angels was also treated to a plush new look after being fully reupholstered and softened with a new colour scheme. Against this new backdrop are some new plantings and some wonderful ribbed glass dividers between the seating with brass edging around them. They have also had to reduce the covers by around 20 per cent to enable social distancing.
Highlights include the movie star pictures gazing down on you, the twinkly cut-glass displays, and the overall sumptuousness of a design that oozes opulence, style, and comfort.
At sister venue, Dalziel Park Hotel and Golf Club in Motherwell, it’s the reception area, bar, and brasserie that they concentrated on so far, but as Siobhan explains, this is only phase one of what they have planned for this venue. There are some pretty hefty changes in the pipeline that will all contribute to a future vision the group has for it.
She said, “We want Dalziel Park to become the number one destination venue for weddings. We also felt that we owed it to the wider community in recognition of their loyalty to us because we have been here for 50 years and we want to show them that we intend to be here for generations to come and that we will continually invest in the hotel.
“We are also really excited about the plans that we have to go ahead with woodlands lodges in the hotel grounds, which are currently in the planning stages.”
DRAM will be first to report on how these plans are progressing so watch this space.
All in all, the end results of what Siobhan, Lisa, and the team have done has been achieved with clean lines, imagination, and foresight in adapting the business during what are rapidly changing and challenging times for the hospitality industry. The design brief strikes the perfect balance between comfort and style – everything we’ve come to expect from Lisini.