Mr Smith’s at Freemasons

The Brief

To design and deliver “Mr Smith’s”. A world class kitchen environment that would allow various revenue opportunities for the business while allowing the existing business to continue to grow and develop in to one of the best pubs in the world.
The works involved:
Strip out of the existing bespoke kitchen
Re-modelling of bespoke items delivered in 2011, service and re-install as part of the refit space
Extension and modernisation of the ventilation system
Introduction of a new “Mr Smith’s“ open kitchen table and chef’s bench
New stills and dishwash area
Utilisation of equipment to form a temporary kitchen space to keep the business running throughout the refurbishment.

In order to achieve this vision, CHR were asked to design a new kitchen space with certain considerations in mind:
•Retain as many of the existing kitchen assets as possible
•Create a space in which the existing business at Freemasons could continue to grow (Introducing good preparation zones and work flow to work outside kitchen service times)
•Create a kitchen that would be aesthetically pleasing while robust enough in a high end commercial kitchen environment
•Continue to deliver high efficiency, both for cleaning and energy
•Easy to clean and operate
•Ensure the current business would remain open through the redevelopment

Installation and Handover

CHR provided a huge amount assistance and coordination in ensuring that all other trades on site were well briefed as to what their requirements were ahead of our arrival on site to install.

Structural and electrical loads were provided along with detailed service drawings enabling the wider project team to deliver their individual elements.
It’s worth noting that the tolerance allowance on this project was 2mm.

This upfront work allowed for a straightforward installation of the kitchen elements. CHR would like to extend their thanks to the wider project team in working so closely with them.

A comprehensive training and handover programme allowed the team at Freemasons to get to grips with the equipment very quickly. And ensured Freemasons was ready to open and operate at Stevens request.

On time – on budget.

Rethinking the way in

The decommissioning and re-installation was very technical. Not only taking in to account how we remove £100k worth of purpose built, bespoke equipment to allow the building to be modernised and changed aesthetically but also to increase the current cookline to match the MKN suite

A programme for refurbishment included the matching up of differing materials, Every refrigeration product used on the new site would be black along side all the bespoke fabrication, each and every panel would be powder coated to achieve the new look. New work tops, hanging details and support would need to be installed.

The bespoke cookers had to be stripped, welds broken and completely re-wired to account for the new equipment on the line. New MCBs installed to cookers and counters which were then re-welded and polished on site.

Every counter which would be retained had to be re-worked and modernised, serviced and tested prior to being delivered back as part of a larger “jigsaw“ to be built back up on site to align with the overall builders programme.

Equipment that was to be disposed of, was re-used as part of the temporary kitchen allowing the business to remain open at very little cost while the whole project was delivered in. The temporary kitchen was then dismantled and removed from site.

The installation was timely, within budget and the facility opened as per programme.

Customer Feedback

“Firstly, I’d like to express our thanks for all the support you have given us in our recent new kitchen here at Freemasons at Wiswell, we would be absolutely delighted to support your entry into the CEDA awards.

Mr Smith’s is a forward-thinking, progressive kitchen space that has allowed us to develop a new offering (allowing us to reach out to a new demographic), and revenue stream for the business, while retaining and ex-tending our existing offer at Freemasons itself.

The support we have had from the team at CHR spans over a decade, and your knowledge, commitment and delivery in supporting our vision has been quite simply invaluable.

It’s been a tremendous six months at the pub since we opened up our new space. The most heard expression when our guests arrive here at Mr Smith’s is wow. And that’s how we feel about the environment in which you helped us create. There’s simply nothing else like it in the North West, which gives us that vital point of differ-ence and creates numerous reasons why people should visit us – whether it’s for a cooking lesson, a tasting menu or a celebratory meal in Mr Smith’s – we now have a rich and diverse offering which appeals to many.

With that, we look forward to supporting your entry into your industry awards and extend this offer to any po-tential clients you have who wish to visit our fantastic new facility and see the impact it’s had on our business.”

Steven Smith
Managing Director / Chef
Freemasons at Wiswell

Watch the video below to see how we worked with Precision Refrigeration to create the stunning new Mr Smith’s from the imagination of Steve Smith, Chef and Co-Owner of The Freemasons at Wiswell.

Our work at Mr Smith’s has been shortlisted for the 2020 CEDA Grand Prix Awards