Lodge Bistro & Coffee Shop

Creating an inviting outdoor dining and refreshment scene will likely remain a key priority for bars, cafes, and restaurants as they open for trade once again and look to attract customers now and keep everyone safe in the future.

During lockdown, businesses increasingly built upon their out-of-doors dining areas ready for welcoming customers once more and leading Ecodek solid decking boards became a firm choice for restaurants and bars wanting an environmentally sustainable solution to accommodate their customers safely and stylishly.

One stunningly located hospitality venture to put the Ecodek product in place has been the Lodge Bistro and Coffee Shop, a sustainably created eatery at the South Cerney Outdoor Centre, positioned on the edge of a 50-acre water sports lake in the Cotswold Water Park.

Created by merging two recycled shipping containers to form a waterside reverie, the bistro has been clad in larch wood and includes feature bi-fold doors that open invitingly onto the lake’s vista. The Lodge also includes a cantilever deck dining area over the lake’s edge, which has been designed and installed using the Ecodek system.

Having experienced first-hand the maintenance issues and potential slip hazards of installing hardwood decking in the past, South Cerney Outdoor Centre’s Managing Director Matt Pritchard wanted to consider alternative indoor and outdoor flooring options, with a wider vision of being able to create an indoor/outdoor space, with little transition between the two once the bi-fold doors were opened.

Considering a composite deck solution to be a more durable and stable option, as well as capable of providing a suitable indoor and outdoor aesthetic and level of practicality, Matt was interested in the advantages of enhancing his project using the Ecodek decking system.

He explains: “I was looking for a solution that would enable us to use the same board material internally and externally, whilst also bringing a complementary wood effect feel to the whole dining environment. It was important that any flooring solution chosen would echo with our project’s sustainability brief, and be made using recycled and sustainable materials wherever possible.”

In ecological terms, Matt’s decking choice has been on brief, as the Ecodek decking solution is designed to be as green as it is long lasting. Purposely created to be repeatedly recycled, and available in lengths that are ‘cut to order’ in the UK at the fabrication stage, Ecodek production and sustainability credentials not only limit waste but help to reduce installation time and customer costs.