The NEW, London, Tracks & Records bar & restaurant on Middlesex Street near Liverpool Street Railway station is the 4th establishment for the Usain Bolt brand, but the very first location in the UK and Europe.

The company opening the new Usain Bolt Bar in London had originally planned to build all of the bar’s interior on site with their own team, but time was running away from them, when they were contacted by Aspen Concepts Ltd offering their joinery manufacturing & fit-out services. They quickly realised that having the main bar counters built off-site and delivered, mostly preassembled for a fast installation, was the way to go. This would also free up their own team to work on other interior features and finishes.

And so the race was on!

Design

Two bar counters, two back of bar displays and the kitchen pass counter top were required.

Aspen concepts had just 5 weeks, to finalise designs, source materials, fabricate the elements and create the finishes. They also needed to manufacture the main bodies of the bar counters. Then get them delivered into central London and installed, on time, for the grand opening.

Sticking fairly closely to the original ideas & sketches for the interior, Aspen created their own 3D renders to confirm sizes and accurate positioning of materials. Doing this also allowed the client to visualise the bar from all sides and approve dimensions, fittings and colours.

Manufacture

The plan was to make the downstairs bar look as similar to a bar at the original Tracks & Records in Jamaica as possible, with a mix of different materials and while you would think it should be easy to find pre-rusted corrugated steel, finding a source with enough suitable material available proved difficult. A decision was therefore made by the Aspen team to buy new corrugated metal sheets and to distress them in the factory. This also enabled the level of distress to be determined and the safety of the material to be assured, i.e. without rusting holes in it.

Meanwhile, the main bar next to the restaurant would also have a mix of bespoke materials including rusted mild steel, brass, blackened brass, stained oak, solid surface and antique mirrors, all in the client’s desired finishes. This bar was also made to be as close to the original concept as possible, but with a slightly different metallic effect to the front of the bar. It also has a solid surface counter top, a little over seven metres long, in dark brown.

Installation

Both bar counters and back of bar displays, along with all the various materials, plus the kitchen pass counter top were designed, sourced, manufactured, delivered and installed by Aspen Concepts, all in time for the bar to open on time.

 

Aspen were a fantastic partner who very quickly grasped what we were looking for and delivered an outstanding project whilst managing our expectations closely on their ability to deliver.

Jamie Gordon, Project Director