Post by Lucy Noone Blake

Nature hates a vacuum and we didn’t love paying the rent on a space which was only half used. Meet Café Barbette - she’s in Chester, she’s a wine bar with really excellent snacks, a massive terrace and a smart wine discovery wall… Café Barbette was born of a need to fill a gap but ended up becoming the true expression of everything that’s brilliant about the QVO Hospitality team. A dream of a wine bar - inspired by those red awnings and corner café’s so iconically of Paris - squeezed and squashed through Thomas White’s beautiful, relentlessly creative brain and refined and honed by James Bates and his endless need for the details to be perfect. Things I love; - Look at the little bookies pens to tick off your order on those beautiful tickets (nick one if you go) - Look at the way the light falls on the tables - Look how the wine wall (self service) always has someone there to chat you through the 30 odd bottles available, they’re custodian for the night and it’s a GOOD section - Imagine deciding to shove the DJ right in the middle of the room (then you see that every single group that’s sat on the table in front has ended up on their feet dancing) There’s more but I’ll get boring. Will Cole on the pans Lorna McVey pulling it all together @tommyg.photo 📸 Huge team effort and worth every moment ❤️