The Velo Barn
Ensuring the future of a much-loved bike workshop and cycling café by opening it up to the community.
I want to ride my bicycle
It’s fair to say a lot of our work comes through cycling (our director Andy can be found on the Kent lanes most weekends). So, when the Velo Barn team approached us to develop a resilient and sustainable vision for their business (The Velo Barn 2.0), we jumped at the chance, providing our services pro bono to help them expand (they were running out of space), enhance their retail offer and open up the café to the local community.
The masterplan
The Velo Barn is a self-funded refurbishment project and our input was vital for crowdfunding and marketing. All of the work is self-built and uses old materials or re-purposes other elements which otherwise would have been thrown away. We worked closely with the client team to develop a phased masterplan and options, outlining impactful strategies to safely and efficiently build themselves.
Go with the flow
The issues were clear – poor visibility, accessibility and legibility. We based the design around ideas of a shared courtyard or farmstead, which improves flow and offers a central gathering space with a sense of enclosure. Using our retail expertise, we diversified the coffee, food and retail offer to widen the customer base and improve the flow in the café to serve more people more efficiently. Better access and visibility of the café have led to greater footfall from commuters during the week and walkers and families at the weekend.
Come together
We designed the plan for the café and workspace spaces to be flexible for future adaptability and the uses and layouts it can accommodate. The café is more than a café – it’s also a club and event meeting room, space for local exhibitions and film nights, and provides room for teaching bike maintenance courses. The Velo Barn is now a place for the local community to come together to catch up, have fun and learn.
“When working on The Velo Barn refurbishment, we couldn’t have asked for a better partner than Andy Matthews Studio. Andy and his team worked closely with us on the new layout of our café and garden area. Their advice was invaluable, and we were able to promote the business well before the completion of the project due to the fantastic artist impressions they supplied. The outcome has been a vastly improved customer experience and enhanced delivery capability from the team due to the new kitchen layout. Year-on-year to date, we have doubled our turnover thanks to the changes that we’ve made.”
Mark Brewer, Client, The Velo Barn
PROJECT
Location: Westerham, Kent
Budget: Confidential
Type: Retail + Community
Timeline: 2023-2024
Status: Completed
STUDIO TEAM
Caitríona Nolan,
Andy Matthews,
Josie Kassapian
TEAM
Client: The Velo Barn
CREDITS
Photography: Daniel Hewitt
PRESS
Velocity Magazine - “Barn Stormer”, Issue 12
Site location plan
Existing plan
Proposed plan
Existing section
Proposed section
A sketch of an outdoor community space featuring a small building, a covered pavilion, and a garden area with seating, trees, and people walking, biking, and socializing.
Interior of a cozy cafe with people sitting at tables and a counter at the back, decorated with string lights and framed pictures on the wall.
An elderly woman with glasses sitting at a wooden table in a cafe, with cups of coffee in front of her. The cafe has a wall decorated with framed pictures, shelves with books, helmets, and a bicycle.
People in a cafe placing orders at the counter, with a man serving food in the foreground and a barista behind the counter, decorated with pendant lights and wall art.
Two women wearing helmets and cycling gear preparing for a ride in an outdoor cafe setting with people sitting at tables in the background.
Black bicycle leaning against a wooden planter filled with plants and red flowers, with a black building and people in the background.
People sitting at outdoor picnic tables with beer glasses and helmets, black wooden building in background decorated with colorful flags, pink flowers in a wooden planter, some individuals wearing cycling gear and helmets.
People gathered outdoors near a black wooden building decorated with colorful bunting flags, some riding bikes, others seated at a picnic table, enjoying the day.
Inside a cafe or coffee shop with customers and staff, featuring wooden beams, hanging light bulbs, a counter with a barista, and a woman seated at a table.
A person riding a bicycle across a street, with a woman in a pink jacket and helmet walking behind. Buildings with brown tiled roofs and signs are visible in the background, along with a blue sky with scattered clouds.
Inside a coffee shop with several people, some wearing bike helmets, standing in line or sitting. The counter area has a barista and various coffee-making equipment. Bicycles are parked in the foreground, and rustic wooden beams decorate the ceiling.
People inside a café, some ordering at the counter, others standing in line, with a woman walking a dog. The café has wooden ceiling beams and hanging light bulbs, with posters and signs on the wall.
Image © Daniel Hewitt
Old black wooden building with a red tiled roof, set on a gravel yard with shadows of tree branches, under a partly cloudy sky.
People sitting and standing outside a black wooden building with a sign for 'Bogger Bathrooms,' hosting a group of cyclists, some sitting on benches and some standing on a deck, with bicycles parked nearby and strings of outdoor lights overhead.
Two cyclists, a man and a woman, standing outdoors in front of a black building with stairs leading up to the entrance, smiling and posing for a photo, both wearing sunglasses and cycling gear.
A person riding a bicycle across a rural road with green fields and hills in the background, a building with a sign that reads 'Café Open!', and a utility pole with a directional sign.
A rural landscape with a harvested field in the foreground, trees and houses in the middle, and green rolling hills and a partly cloudy sky in the background.
A cluttered bike repair shop with bicycles hanging on the wall and being worked on, tools and supplies on shelves, and a diamond plate rubber floor.
A man with gray hair and beard, wearing glasses, a black shirt, and shorts, watering plants in a raised wooden garden bed outside a rustic black wooden building.
People sitting and having conversations in a cozy cafe or restaurant with wooden ceiling beams and warm lighting.
Interior of a bicycle shop or cafe with bicycles parked inside and colorful triangular bunting hanging from the ceiling. There's a counter with a coffee machine and menu in the background, and a sign on the wall promoting a stamp rewards program.
Inside a rustic cafe with exposed wooden beams and several people sitting at tables, some eating and others using devices, with a wood stove in the background.
Interior of a cafe or bike shop with bikes parked inside, wooden beams on the ceiling, and colorful banners hanging. There are tables, chairs, a television on the wall, and a counter area in the background.
A small commercial building with a rooftop terrace on the right, filled with people sitting at tables and bikes parked nearby. To the left, there are structures with red tiled and metal roofs, and a fenced area with outdoor seating and some storage. A sign indicates a road is closed in front of the buildings, and a road runs horizontally at the bottom of the image with a green hedge separating it from the buildings.