Brunswick Book Club was conceived as more than a café-bar. The ambition was to create a contemporary public house for Leith. A place shaped around familiarity, conversation and the everyday rituals that bring communities together over time.

Located opposite one of the area’s local libraries, the concept drew inspiration from storytelling, shared spaces and the character of traditional public houses where people gathered not simply to eat or drink, but to feel connected to a place and to one another. The narrative imagined a local librarian with a love of stories and a good whisky creating the foundation for an interior experience rooted in warmth, curiosity and hospitality rather than trend-led theatre.

Working across interior design and concept development, the project focused on creating an environment that felt socially magnetic and emotionally familiar from the moment guests arrived. Spatial planning considered how people would settle, gather, linger and move throughout the venue across different times of day balancing intimacy with openness and creating natural opportunities for interaction without feeling overdesigned.

Materiality and lighting were used to create a layered sense of comfort and atmosphere throughout the space. Rich timber tones, aged leather banquettes, dark tiled surfaces, library-inspired shelving and softer ambient lighting combine to create a mood that feels grounded, relaxed and quietly nostalgic while remaining contemporary in execution. Rather than treating the interiors as a backdrop to the operation, the environment was designed to actively support the behaviours that make hospitality venues commercially resilient: repeat visits, longer dwell times, social familiarity and emotional connection. Seating typologies, lighting levels and spatial rhythm were carefully considered to allow the venue to transition naturally between daytime café use, evening dining and later-night social energy without losing coherence.

The result is a hospitality environment that feels rooted in its community and distinct within the market, demonstrating how storytelling, atmosphere and operational thinking can work together to create spaces people genuinely want to return to.