The Trafalgar, located on the site of a former bank on King’s Road in Chelsea, London, will welcome customers through the door in October following an investment of £2.4m.
But while Peake said the group was “tremendously excited” to open the Grade II-listed pub, which dates back to 1909, turning a grandiose former bank with five-metre-high ceilings into a warm and welcoming pub was no easy task.
He The Morning Advertiser (The MA): “We’ve done a lot of work to different buildings, but we’ve never built a pub from a shell condition.
“It’s the first pub to be built on the Kings Road in a very long time and it’s a beautiful building, the old banking hall is really something and so we want to do it justice. That’s how I tend to look at these projects, whether it’s a pub that needs reinvestment or something extreme like this.
Relaxing pub
“But it’s quite challenging. When you think of a pub’s core appeal, it is a sense of warmth in a relaxing space. You can kick off your shoes, so to speak, and settle in, whether you’re just having a pint and reading the paper with your dog or with friends or whatever, relaxing is a huge part of it.”
To overcome this, Peake drew inspiration from the building’s original architect, Reginald Blomfield, who specialised in country houses and townhouses: “It was built to be grand rather than relaxing and warm so the pivot point, from a design perspective, was thinking about [Blomfield’s] area of expertise and thinking of it not as a bank, but as a grand townhouse; that was something we could work with.
“There’s no getting away from how grand it is but there’s lots of ways we’re handling that with warm lighting and soft materials [to make it very much a relaxing pub].”
Spread across two floors, the pub will be on the ground floor while downstairs will be dedicated to live entertainment, such as music, comedy nights and private parties.
Upstairs, original fixtures, including large Georgian windows, blend with a new bar, intimate booths, oversized chandeliers, leather dining chairs and vintage artwork.
Getting the right tone for the area was also something Peake was conscious of, he added: “Our approach is very much not cookie cutter. What’s right for Chelsea might be different to what’s right in Kennington, whether it’s the physical design of the place or the menus.
“On the wine list for instance, there will be more higher end wine available by the glass or by the carafe [at the Trafalgar] because there is more disposable income in Chelsea compared to some other parts of London.
“Similarly, on the food front, there’s a few dishes that carry a higher price point, for example our Thor’s hammer, which is an amazing piece of beef for four to six people.
“What we’re good at is the classic pub offer. We’re not trying to appeal to everybody but we’re trying to keep it interesting.”
Taken on in partnership with property developers the Cadogan Estate, the Trafalgar marks the group’s first new site since 2019 and takes its total number of pubs to ten.
Founded in 2003 by Peake and his childhood friends Mark Reynolds and Nick Fox, the co-founder explained while some may find 10 sites in 23 years a “glacial pace”, much of Three Cheers Pub Co.’s success has come from being patient and careful.
Old-fashioned approach
He continued: “We are a small team, which has its pros and cons. We could have a big management team and be more ambitious, but we have quite an old-fashioned approach, which actually suits pubs.
“We’ve looked at so many sites over the years and come close to signing many, which haven’t worked out one way or another.
“Occasionally we think maybe we missed opportunities and could have done this or that, but it’s very easy to overstretch yourself financially and the debt burden is the number one cause of a lot of businesses going bust.
“We were waiting for the right site and it came along at the right moment. I’m glad we waited because this is really special, we feel quite privileged to be in the position we are, it’s quite a moment for us as a company. This is a very exciting opportunity and we hope the people of Chelsea and beyond love it.”
