Scotts Restaurant Mount Street, Mayfair, London W1
for Nicky Kerman as Design Director for Lewis & Horning 1983-87
Scotts Restaurant in Mount Street, Mayfair is one of the largest and most prestigious fish restaurants in London and includes a 136 cover, 1600 sq ft dining room, an oyster bar, reception area, private dining rooms, dining servery and kitchen. The original decor included solid cast bronze cherubs, hand finished walls, antique glass-clad columns and the largest existing collection of original English primitive paintings.
A team was established comprising the client, Mr Nicky Kerman – MD Of the Scotts Group plc, quantity surveyors, structural engineers, architects, contractors, lighting consultants, ventilation specialists, health and safety consultants, specialist fabricators, design consultants, art historians and others. The task was to completely strip the facility right back to the original brickwork and then to reinstate with new, resulting in the restaurant’s complete renovation identical in almost every way to its former splendor but with alterations to improve services and people management. The then Arch Bishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie was a regular diner at Scotts. In one of our first meetings with Nicky Kerman, it was made quite clear that the ethos for the entire project was that when the Arch Bishop comes to dine in the newly refurbished restaurant he would not notice any difference in the atmosphere or decor. As if it had never happened!
The close down period was exactly one month, from midnight on December the 18th to re-open for lunch on January 18th. Nine months preparation and planning resulted in a 24 hour a day programme over the four weeks. The task was completed and celebrated by the entire workforce being invited by the grateful staff to dine there. Lunch preceded in a manner usually the preserve of those Heads of State and members of the aristocracy who made up Scott’s regular customers and who would not have noticed the changes to their cherished and familiar haunt. Sadly since then, Scotts has been refurbished a few times revamping the interior to that of the contemporary idioms of subsequent eras. Such was the nature of the institution that a case could have been made to have the interior listed for its protection and celebrated as one to be kept for our heritage.