Commercial Interior Design Edinburgh
august house | bar DESIGN GLASGOWCommercial interior designHospitality interior design and branding for bars, restaurants, student unions, visitor centres, and brand activations; designed around revenue, footfall, and operations.
“A design studio that thinks like an operator, delivers like a contractor, and creates like an artist.”
Commercial Interior Design That Performs
STRATHCLYDE university | STUDENT UNION DESIGN GLASGOWDESIGNED TO WORKOur approach combines interior architecture, hospitality branding, FF&E procurement, lighting design, and on-site delivery.
We don't hand over a drawing pack and disappear, we stay involved from initial brief to opening night and beyond.
Every commercial interior we design is built around the numbers that matter to operators: covers, spend per head, dwell time, footfall, nightly rate, service speed. A decorator can make a room look good.
A commercial interior designer designs the whole system: layout, service flow, branding, lighting, acoustics, and durability. So the space works on a packed Friday night as well as it photographs.
what we do*
We're a commercial interior design studio based in Edinburgh, working across Glasgow, Scotland, and the UK. Our hospitality interior design work spans the full scope of commercial projects, from single-venue bar fit outs to multi-site restaurant rollouts, student union refurbishments, visitor centre builds, and brand activations. Whether the project is a restaurant design in Edinburgh, a bar fit out in Glasgow, or a distillery visitor centre in the Highlands, every brief starts with the same question: what does this space need to do commercially?
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Bar design, restaurant design, pub design, and cafe design for independent operators and multi-site groups. We design hospitality interiors around service flow, atmosphere, durability, and the operational details that make a venue work commercially, not just look good on launch night. From a single bar interior design project in Edinburgh to a restaurant fit out in Glasgow, our hospitality design work is built for the long run.
More about bar interior design
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Brand activation design for drinks events, pop-ups, product launches, and brand experience environments. Fast turnaround, high impact, designed for social coverage and commercial return. We work direct-to-brand and with experiential agencies across Edinburgh, Glasgow, Scotland, and the UK.
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Student union design for multi-use venues that handle daytime service through late-night events. Designed for durability, flexibility, and the kind of atmosphere that competes with the high street. Our student union interior design work includes Strathclyde Students' Union — ranked #1 in Scotland.
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Visitor centre design for distilleries, heritage sites, and brand experience centres. Distillery design, heritage centre design, and visitor attraction interiors that tell a story, manage throughput, and convert footfall into retail spend. Working across Scotland from Edinburgh to the Highlands.
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Every project includes hospitality branding as standard. We design the space and the identity as one system, not two separate briefs. Restaurant branding, bar branding, or a complete brand identity for a new venue, the interior and the brand work together from day one.
we work withWe work with operators who care about how the space performs, not just how it looks. Most of our clients come to us after working with designers who could do the aesthetics but didn't understand the operational reality of running a hospitality business.
Independent venue operators investing in a space they'll run for a decade. Restaurant groups expanding a working concept into new locations. Universities and student unions upgrading campus hospitality. Drinks brands and agencies building experiential activations. Distilleries and visitor attractions creating destination experiences. Hotel operators and boutique hotel groups investing in guest experience. Cafe owners and coffee businesses building a space with character.
port o' leith bar DESIGN edinburgh300+ PROJECTS COMPLETED
300+ PROJECTS COMPLETED
25+ YEARS IN HOSPITALITY DESIGN
25+ YEARS IN HOSPITALITY DESIGN
5+ AWARD-WINNING DESIGNS
5+ AWARD-WINNING DESIGNS
Why ROUGH?
Most of our clients have one thing in common: they've been burned by interior designers who don't understand the commercial side.
We're different in three ways. The brief starts with numbers, target covers, spend per head, operational model, not a mood board. The design is tested against how the space actually operates: staff flow, service points, peak capacity — not just how it looks. And we stay on site through build, fit out, and snagging, not just through concept approval. What you see in the renders is what you get in reality.
That's the difference between a decorator and a commercial interior designer. We design hospitality interiors that perform: bars, restaurants, cafes, pubs, hotels, student unions, visitor centres. If it trades, hosts, or sells, we've probably designed one.
the processFour stages.
Every project.
No surprises.
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The business, the numbers, the commercial reality.
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Brand-led creative direction with commercial intent.
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Layouts, specification, FF&E, tied to performance.
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On site, on time, on budget.
absolut brand activationFrequently Asked Questions*
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We're a commercial interior design studio and hospitality designer — we design bars, restaurants, cafes, pubs, hotels, brand activations, student unions, visitor centres, and distillery experiences. If it trades, hosts, or sells, we've probably designed one. The common thread is commercial performance: every project is designed around revenue, footfall, and operations, not just aesthetics. We handle everything from a single bar fit out in Edinburgh to multi-site restaurant fit outs across Scotland.
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Yes. Restaurant design is core to what we do — we've designed restaurants in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and across Scotland. Our restaurant interior design approach is the same as all our hospitality work: the brief starts with commercial targets, the design is built around service flow and operations, and we deliver on site through fit out and snagging. Whether it's a single-venue restaurant design in Edinburgh or a multi-site restaurant fit out across Scotland, we bring the same commercial interior design rigour.
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It depends on the scope, but we work to a capex sheet on every project and design to the budget from day one. A single-venue bar or restaurant fit out is a different conversation to a multi-site rollout or a university campus. A bar or cafe fit out in Edinburgh might start from £80k, while a student union or visitor centre project could be £500k-2M+. We'll tell you early if the brief and the budget don't match — no surprises at tender.
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A single-venue bar or restaurant is typically 12–16 weeks from briefing to opening. A cafe fit out or pub interior design project follows a similar timeline. Brand activations can be faster — we've delivered in as little as 4 weeks. Larger projects like student unions or visitor centres run longer depending on stakeholder sign-off and procurement. We'll give you a realistic programme at the start.
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Yes. Cafe design, cafe interior design, pub design, and pub interior design all follow the same principles as our bar and restaurant work — commercial thinking, operational design, and hospitality branding as standard. Whether you're opening a cafe in Edinburgh, fitting out a pub in Glasgow, or redesigning a cafe in Scotland, we bring the same approach.
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Edinburgh is home, but our hospitality interior design work covers Glasgow, the Highlands, the central belt, and further afield across the UK. We've designed bars in Glasgow, restaurants in Edinburgh, student unions in Strathclyde, and brand activations from Scotland to London.
As a hospitality designer and commercial interior design studio in Edinburgh, we understand the local planning context, Scottish licensing requirements, and the supplier landscape. For bar design Glasgow or restaurant design Glasgow clients, we bring the same rigour, we just need a decent train connection and a site visit.
Whether the project is a bar interior design in Edinburgh, a restaurant fit out in Glasgow, a cafe design in Scotland, a pub interior design anywhere in the UK, or a distillery visitor centre in the Highlands, the approach is the same: understand the business, design for commercial performance, deliver on site.
We work across Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Scotland, from city centre venues to remote Highland sites. The logistics change; the commercial interior design rigour doesn't.
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We think like operators. The brief starts with commercial targets — covers, spend per head, dwell time — not mood boards. The design is tested against how the space actually runs, and we stay on site through build and snagging. Most interior designers can make a room look good. A commercial interior designer designs the whole system — brand, layout, service flow, lighting, acoustics, and durability — so the space works as a business. That's what we do.