Chelsea FC,
Stamford Bridge

The brief

Working with Levy, we were asked to help establish a new space on Level 5 of Stamford Bridge for a concept called GA+, sitting between Chelsea’s general admission and Club Chelsea. The bars would open only for set windows, such as the hour and a half before kick off and the break at half time, and in those windows each one could face up to 1,112 customers at once.

They needed to serve draught, chilled and ambient wines, spirits and bottled drinks, and run their own dispense operation, all without the queue slowing down. KSS Architects designed the space, with Levy running its food and drink. It opened in the summer of 2021 as Westview, part of what was described as the most significant development to the West Stand since 2001, with a new food hall, big screens and new seating across the upper tier.

Rethinking the plan

The original plans split the operation between a main bar and a separate dispense bar elsewhere in the space. Working with Levy, we proposed bringing dispense onto the main bar itself, then refined the size and form of the bar until it worked as one.

The result is a large faceted bar placed centrally in each space, with service on almost every side, so the crowd meets the bar wherever it arrives.

Designing the workstation

We gave each bar a dedicated back bar draught operation, so a team can stay in that position for the whole shift, pouring draught and passing it forward.

The bartenders at the front are then free to make short drinks and run the tills, which keeps every transaction moving at the speed a half time crowd demands.