Radio tunes in to café bonanza

Two radio stations are cashing in on the buoyant restaurant trend and extending their brands into cafe chains.

A chain of jazz cafés is being launched by Golden Rose Communications, owner of Jazz FM radio, and pubs and café bar operator Regents Inns.

The first Café Jazbar opens on 25 April at the Albert Dock, Liverpool. Design consultancy Hattrell and Partners worked on the initial concept, with Wolff Olins’ 3D department creating the interior.

Wolff Olins was chosen as it had already designed the logo and brand image of the radio station, says Jazz FM head of enterprises Simon Cooke. No other design group was invited to pitch, due to lack of time.

“The Café Jazbar has a clean look and is contemporary without being hyper contemporary,” he adds. The design was dictated by the Grade I listed premises which Cooke selected in conjunction with Regents Inns. “We were trying to draw in a wider audience and change the perception of jazz,” says Wolff Olins senior designer Joseph Mitchell.

The smoky and dark jazz basement stereotype has been relegated in favour of strong colours, fabrics and abstract paintings that represent the spirit of jazz.

Meanwhile Capital Radio is opening at least five cafés outside London, following the success of LSM Partnership’s interiors for the café in the station’s Leicester Square building (DW 1 March 1996). The LSM Partnership will be working on the chain, says Dominic Fenton, Capital’s entertainment manager.

Branding for the existing Capital Café was adapted by Basten Greenhill Andrews from LSM Partnership’s original design (DW 15 November 1996).

Morey Smith Limited has put the finishing touches to Capital Radio’s new headquarters in Leicester Square. The lengthy project, which has taken more than three years to complete, involved extensive renovation of the site, previously used by Centrepoint as a shelter for the homeless.