Bar designer raises a glass to new TV venture

Mar 3 2009 by Karen Dent, The Journal

A TYNESIDE bar and interior designer has been chosen to put together the sets for hit BBC comedy Gavin and Stacey.

Julie Chambers’ career is taking off just as she launches her own business after working as a designer for around a decade on a freelance basis.

Ms Chambers, 33, who worked on set design for Alistair MacGowan’s Big Impression and Mad About Alice, starring Amanda Holden, has also been asked to work on film sets at the famous Pinewood Studios.

She said: “Because the design for film is for about a month and Gavin and Stacey is packed into a month, you can move things around and fit things in. Because you are a designer, you can multi-task.”

The TV and film boost comes as she launches herself as Julie Chambers Design, which will concentrate on revamping bar interiors. She has just finished work on the Polynesian-Hawaiian influenced Tikio, part of Toyko, on Newcastle’s Westgate Road.

“It’s very intimate. The area only holds around 100 people. It’s a new trend from London like Waikiki where Prince Harry and Prince William go,” she said.

Another new London trend likely to make its way up north is turning flashy bars into traditional pubs. It’s about creating an atmosphere,” said Ms Chambers.

“A lot of people are buying antique furniture. The old pubs, people love going to them. I went to London two months ago to what was an ultra-fashionable trendy bar in Hoxton and they’d changed to old doors and there was even an old piano. It used to be a white glossy bar, it’s a complete contrast.” She is concerned the recession will impact on the business and says people are tightening their belts. Although the mainstay of her work is bar design, she is working on domestic projects as the leisure industry pulls back its horns to deal with the credit crunch.

The Wallsend-born designer, who studied at North Tyneside and Newcastle Colleges, initially worked in the capital before returning to her roots.

She has designed the interiors for Newcastle bars including As You Like It, Mr Lynch, Baby Lynch and The Other Rooms.

“I have been back for five or six years, that when I got into the bar scene, I did a number of bars and restaurants in London. I can’t believe it, I didn’t have a big goal.”