We are working with local bar entrepreneur the Butcher’s Hook Alliance to provide Southampton with a progressive new cultural venue in the heart of the city’s burgeoning bar district. Our proposal for Carlton Yard includes a bar, street food offering, events space and co-working facility, set within the characterful surroundings of an historic Victorian riding school.

Careful conservation work and a creative design concept will bring this fantastic building back to life as a new place to work and play in, fit for the next generation. The property presents an opportunity to host guest caterers for large food and drinks events on its spacious ground floor. Upstairs, a flexible co-working space will give local start-ups and freelancers an inspiring place to work. A highly visible street presence will be achieved by casting the front courtyard area as a spillout dining and drinking area.

The Butcher’s Hook Alliance currently runs an independent alehouse in a converted Victorian butcher’s shop in Southampton. Since opening in February 2014, this innovative micropub has twice been voted runner-up Camra South Hampshire Pub of the Year.

Carlton Yard sits in the heart of Southampton’s historic town centre, in a Conservation Area of fine Georgian and Victorian buildings. The locale has an air of distinction, but is let down by the vacancy of some of its most important and attractive buildings, including Carlton Yard.

Built in 1847 by William Hinves, this characterful property was originally part of the Bedford Riding School, described at the time as “in every respect the finest building in the kingdom devoted to this purpose”. The section for proposed development comprises the stables and coach-houses. The ground floor has an open-plan layout facing a front courtyard, while the first floor contains a series of stunning period rooms. The building’s many original features include wooden sash windows, tiled walls on the ground floor and a wooden feature staircase leading up to an elegant and capacious hall.

Carlton Yard’s equestrian past and later use as an assembly room, provide rich inspiration for a redevelopment that will celebrate the building’s history.