The User's Viewpoint

EightySix'd, Waterloo St, Ironbridge

https://www.facebook.com/#!/EightySixd.uk?fref=ts

Rooms are often constrained by the buildings that enclose them:

1, Waterloo Street, makes full use of a truncated triangular site and its shape determines that of the rooms.  The middle floor hosts a café with an artistic theme.  Artworks and objéts trouvés are displayed on walls and surfaces.

The platform at the narrow end is part of the structure of the building; space having been robbed to give headroom for the shop premises below.   If upright chairs were used here, their occupants could look down on the rest of the customers.  The extra height has been cancelled out and even turned to advantage by placing armchairs here.

This 'luxury' accommodation takes advantage of the view of the roundabout and the roads leading off it: up to the church; straight on the the Iron Bridge.

The homely mix of furniture is in keeping with the Bohemian atmosphere.  To replace it with something more stylish would spoil the feel of the place.

When it's full, it must seem pretty crowded, but that also is part of the atmosphere of the place, the feeling that art and ideas are more important that what one sits on.

The Woodbridge Inn, Coalport

http://www.brunningandprice.co.uk/woodbridge
Also in Ironbridge, this is a very different establishment

It's an old building (named for the previous bridge) that has had a thorough renovation, resulting in light and welcoming spaces.  Almost everything here has been designed to agree with the moderately olde worlde image the company wishes to project.  The gents' is an exception - well, no one wants to use an olde worlde lavatory.

 Modern, bright, shiny, with dark tiles below eye height balancing the white of the sanitary ware, it fulfils its function well and looks easy to clean.  The old pictures at eye level encourage the avoidance of introspection and carry the theme through from the rest of the pub, as do the wooden doors.