La Bottega Milanese

La Bottega Milanese is a 15-year-old, Leeds-based brand with a pronounced Milanese cultural dedication and a cult following for its fiercely-independent, hip and buzzing coffee bars. Customers come to the brand’s two outlets in the city to enjoy the best specialty coffee around and to sample a range of continental Milanese snack food, patisserie and other refreshments.

When the business was taken over in 2022 by Katia Pereira, the new owner looked to breathe fresh air into the brand, starting with an aesthetic uplift of the brand’s original flagship in Bond Court, on the southern edge of Leeds city centre, whilst also preparing La Bottega Milanese for possible future expansion in the region.

With footfall high and many customers in a hurry, it was important the coffee bar’s layout remained open, simple and easy to navigate, whilst at the same time increasing the offer’s design sophistication for those running the store, with behind-the-counter functionality and services a priority too. When it came to its colour palette, Ekho Studio kept to the brand’s original monochrome look but softened the palette slightly with the introduction of planting and the use of neutral colours and touches of sage green.

The new, streamlined layout includes 40 covers inside and 42 outside, allowing for up to 82 seated customers at any one time – an increase of 12 over the earlier layout. The site now also boasts a clean and modern aesthetic with matt black metals and concrete-effect finishes combining with a neutral colour palette and natural textures. Sculptural live and preserved foliage displays sit alongside raw textured concrete and monolithic black forms, punctuated by warm white pendant lighting, whilst the new dedicated display area and bespoke, angled fridge display has enabled the expansion of merchandised products and goods, making the overall merchandising offer much sleeker.

The service counter, located to the right of the space, features a new black solid surface with a flecked pattern by Durat. New vinyl sheet concrete-effect flooring wraps up the vertical face of the counter for a seamless, minimalist finish.

A new bespoke joinery banquette runs along the entire left-side window elevation of the space, upholstered in sage green. Bespoke planters for the dried grass feature run parallel to it, adding a soft visual backdrop for people looking in from the windows and streetscape beyond. The raw concrete columns in the space and the warm pendant lighting between the window bays add to the layering of textures and tones. External furniture includes flip-top Ypsilon 3star base tables from Pedrali and stackable chairs – both the Pedrali Tribeca and the armchair-style Tribeca 3669 – offering easy removal and security overnight.

Design: Ekho Studio
Design Team: Sarah Dodsworth, Kath Brookes
Fit-Out Contractor: Concept Joinery
Furniture: The Furniture Practice
Light Wall: Lights on Design
Photography: copyright Ekho Studio