Restaurant & café refurbishment in London

Vayton Construction carries out restaurant and café refurbishment across London and surrounding areas, including dining areas, internal partitions, ceilings, decorating and finishes. We plan a venue refresh or a wider interior fit-out around your layout, trading hours and reopening date.

Quick answer

As restaurant refurbishment contractors in London, we renew the customer areas of restaurants, cafés and coffee shops and, where needed, the counter and back-of-house layout: decorating, flooring, ceilings, partitions and making good. Kitchen equipment, extraction, gas and electrical work are coordinated with the appointed specialists. Start with what stays, what moves and your reopening date.

Illustration of hygienic wall cladding, quarry tiles, a stainless splashback offcut and a pendant light. — Illustration of hygienic cladding, quarry tiles, a stainless splashback and a pendant light. Not a photograph of a Vayton project.

Build the brief around service and reopening

A hospitality interior has to work for guests and staff. Begin with the areas to be refurbished, your seating and circulation plans and the intended reopening date. Tell us whether the venue will close fully or whether parts need to stay open. Deliveries, noisy work and interfaces with neighbouring premises can all influence the programme.

Coordinate interiors with specialist installations

Kitchen equipment, extraction, gas, electrical installations and other specialist systems need clearly allocated design and installation responsibilities. Send the relevant drawings and supplier requirements before the associated partitions, ceilings or finishes are agreed. Specialist equipment and installations are included only where expressly set out in the quotation.

What to send with your enquiry

Send your postcode, layout drawings, photographs, finishes schedule and preferred timing. Identify any retained counters or equipment, client-supplied fittings, landlord requirements and work assigned to other contractors. This helps separate the building work from equipment procurement and specialist packages.

Request a quotation

What has to be agreed before a restaurant or café fit-out starts?

Five things outside the building work have to be settled first: the kitchen extract route, customer toilets, licences, the planning use and the landlord's consent. Settle them before partitions and ceilings are priced, because the extract route and the toilets can move a wall.

Item	What to settle, and with whom
Kitchen extract route	An outside flue is a planning matter. Borough guidance, such as Bromley's, asks for the duct to discharge at least 1 m above the roof ridge of any building within 20 m. Where planning rules that out, it accepts at least 1 m above the eaves or a dormer window and may ask for extra odour control. It says low-level discharge should be avoided. The route up through the building also needs the landlord's agreement
Customer toilets	The council's environmental health team. See the next question
Licences and registration	A premises licence from the council if you sell alcohol or serve hot food and drinks between 11pm and 5am. The application includes a detailed plan of the premises, so fix the layout first. Register the food business at least 28 days before trading
Planning use	A café or restaurant where most food is eaten in is use class E(b). Hot food takeaways and pubs or bars are classed separately, so check the unit's permitted use before signing the lease
Landlord's consent	A licence to alter for the works. Our licence to alter guide lists what landlords ask for

Do cafés have to have customer toilets?

There is no blanket rule. Under section 20 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, a council can serve a notice requiring toilets and wash basins at a place where food or drink is sold for people to consume there. Councils set their own policies on when they use it, often by the number of seats, so ask the borough before the seating plan is fixed. Staff toilets are a separate duty under workplace rules. The HSE numbers are set out in our guide to office toilet refurbishment.

Vayton builds the partitions, ceilings, linings and making good around these items. The extraction system, gas and electrical work stay with the appointed specialists.

What belongs in a café fit-out quotation?

Package	Scope to establish
Customer areas	Decoration, flooring, ceilings, partitions, lighting interfaces and making good around the agreed layout.
Counter and equipment	Counter construction or fitting, supplied joinery and equipment dimensions, with the supplier and installer for each item.
Specialist systems	Kitchen equipment, extraction, gas, electrical, plumbing and any design or approval work need named responsibilities. They are not automatically included in an interior package.
Reopening	Delivery dates, access, noisy work, specialist testing or commissioning and the handover sequence before reopening.

Café refurbishment cost depends on how much of the existing interior is retained and how many services or equipment positions change. Send the same layout and work schedule to each contractor, so you can tell a decorative refresh from a wider fit-out.

Build a commercial refurbishment budget

Before you enquire

Can a café stay open during the work?

Sometimes a phased approach can be considered, but it depends on the premises and scope. Access, separation and operational needs have to be assessed before the work is agreed.

Is commercial kitchen equipment included?

Equipment supply, extraction and gas or electrical installations are separate scope items unless your quotation expressly includes them. Send supplier drawings, connection requirements and delivery dates so the building work can be planned around the appointed specialists.

Can you work to an existing design?

Send your designer’s drawings and finishes schedule. We can discuss the construction package, flag what we need for pricing and clarify responsibilities before a quotation is agreed.

What is the difference between a café refresh and a café fit-out?

A refresh keeps the counter, kitchen and layout, and renews the surfaces: repairs, decorating and replacement floor finishes. A fit-out changes the layout, counter, equipment positions or services, so it needs more coordination with specialists and a different programme. The quotation should make clear which one is being priced.

How much does a café or coffee shop refurbishment cost in London?

It depends on how much of the existing interior is retained, how many services or equipment positions change, the finishes chosen and the working hours. Send the same layout and work schedule to each contractor so you compare like with like, and keep equipment and specialist packages separate.

Tell us about your venue.

Send the venue postcode, the areas you want to change and your preferred reopening date. Photographs and a short outline are enough to start; add drawings or a finishes schedule if you have them.

Request a quotation

Restaurant & café refurbishment in London

Build the brief around service and reopening

Coordinate interiors with specialist installations

What to send with your enquiry

What has to be agreed before a restaurant or café fit-out starts?

Do cafés have to have customer toilets?

What belongs in a café fit-out quotation?

Small café and coffee shop fit-outs

Refresh the dining area

Plan the counter and customer flow

Coordinate a wider interior

Decisions before reopening

From the first brief to reopening

1. Agree the layout and scope

2. Coordinate the interior work

3. Prepare for handover