Coal Rooms — London, UK

Peckham’s feverish renaissance began in 2015, when British Vogue dispatched a team of models and photographers to a bar on top of a car park, and dedicated 16 pages of praise to this rough-edged corner of south-east London. Today, Peckham has become as common a place for Londoners to spend a Saturday afternoon- as Brooklyn has for New Yorkers or Canal Saint-Martin for Parisians. And as a result, new independent eateries, bars, galleries and co-working spaces are opening apace.
The latest addition is Coal Rooms, sister restaurant to Old Spike Roastery, Aside, Spike + Earl, and the coffee-based charity Change Please. It occupies the Grade II-listed former ticket office of Peckham Rye station, and features a sexily lit coffee shop-cum-bar out front, and a light and airy 30-cover restaurant that looks out across the railway tracks in the back.
All the bespoke ash carpentry is by local architecture firm Kennedy Woods, who are also responsible for the restoration of the space. Parquet flooring, sage green banquettes, Danish-style chairs and orb lighting look sleek against original marble fireplaces. In the middle section, 13 bar stools perch around a sunken kitchen, where chef Sam Bryant and team char grill a meaty menu of 40-day aged Dexter, slow-cooked goat and lamb and mallard, to serve alongside equally gutsy accompaniments featuring offal, and a rotation of creative vegetable side dishes and sauces.
Adjoined to this are the original station toilets, complete with original tiled floors, indoor plants, wooden lavatory seats and peeling posters warning against common Victorian ailments. For architect Chris Kennedy, the most exciting part is the private dining room; ‘It’s a vaulted space with a Victorian mosaic floor that will function as butchery and bakery in the day, before transforming into a candlelit dining space at night.’
ADDRESS
11a Station Way
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
Glenn Sestig brings his fashion-infused design to a French Riviera flagship
The Belgian architect is the creative force behind the modern-meets-Mediterranean design of shoe label Morobé’s new store in Saint-Tropez
-
Stay in a pastel-hued Puglian palazzo as it starts a new chapter
A haven for the design-minded, Palazzo Daniele reopens following a thoughtful restoration by Milan-based Studio Palomba Serafini
-
‘As an artist, I’ve never felt more useful than now’: Steve McQueen on his monumental film screening in Amsterdam
The film director on why now felt like the right time to screen a previously unseen 34-hour version of his 2023 documentary ‘Occupied City’, on the façade of the Rijksmuseum
-
A first look inside Kudu Marylebone, where South African dining meets contemporary design
A beloved South-African restaurant relocates to central London, featuring Fabled Studio-designed interiors that thread in African tones and textures
-
Carmela’s joins London’s pizza renaissance
A Little Italy-inspired pizzeria lands in Islington with 13-inch pies, pepperoni heat and big flavour energy
-
Has the ice cream parlour come of age?
A global wave of architecture studios is treating the scoop as spectacle, turning parlours into immersive social spaces
-
Legado brings a bold Spanish legacy to Shoreditch
Michelin-starred chef Nieves Barragán Mohacho’s second venture marries design-led interiors with regional Spanish flavours rarely found in London
-
The Macbeth, an icon of indie sleaze, goes from grotty to gastro
An East End legend meets Portuguese small plates in Jamie Allan’s ambitious revival of a beloved Hackney watering hole
-
A complete collection of Phaidon’s ‘Contemporary Artists Series’ is on display in London
A 30-year project reaching 100 volumes is being celebrated with an exhibition at the 45 Park Lane hotel, including limited-edition works by Kaws and Dana Schutz
-
London’s best pizza restaurant gets a new home in Mayfair
Secure a slice of New York-style pizza in central London as Crisp Pizza teams up with the Devonshire pub to set up shop in the relaunched The Marlborough
-
At this east London listening bar, mezcal-fuelled cocktails hit as hard as the basslines
In Bethnal Green, Little Fires pairs vinyl grooves with mezcal margaritas and Oaxacan sharing plates