Granada hospitality coffee shop

Granada Hospitality, the UK’s leading motorway service station operator, unveils a new coffee shop design next week by Pentagram partners John McConnell and Daniel Weil.

The project, which began last November, needed a holistic approach, according to Weil. `We were asked to develop the entire concept, from the interiors and graphics to the cutlery – and even what went on the menu,’ he says.

The finished design draws on the `traditions of Continental coffee bars and first class rail travel in its heyday’, says a Pentagram spokeswoman. The bars are described by Weil as `decompression zones’, soothing areas with no windows on to the outside world.

Weil, who was responsible for the interiors, comments: `We chose not to hide the fact that this was part of the travel experience. We did not want to recreate an inappropriate urban setting in the middle of the motorway.’

The language of catering is used to add humour and character, with cake moulds and drinking glass shapes used as part of the lighting design.

The naming relies on the Granada brand to speak for itself. `We took a straightforward approach to the name and suggested Coffee Bar, a name with cosmopolitan overtones,’ says Weil.

McConnell has designed a coffee cup symbol which appears on menus, serviettes and 3D signs.

The pilot shop opens in early April at the Leigh Delamere service station on the M4. The concept will then be rolled out nationally.