The Architect, Orange Grove, Bath

If you’re a fan of grand designs, The Architect – formerly (and for way too long) a rather unloved branch of the rather unloved British casual dining chain Garfunkel’s, that dominated the ground floor of the former Empire Hotel in Orange Grove – has got it all going on.

If the approach – a massive, 6-storey L-shaped construction built in 1901 overlooking both Pulteney Weir and Bath Abbey, with a striking octagonal corner tower and a top layer that, strange but true, was designed to offer some kind of weird structural shorthand for Britain’s social class structure, with a humble cottage for the lower class ‘working man’ on the left, a couple of plain houses in the middle for the middle classes and a castle tower on the corner to represent the upper class (phew!) – promises grandeur, the artfully refurbished interior fully lives up to expectations.

Contemporary pub chain Brunning & Price opened the doors to The Architect in June 2022 – and beyond those doors, you’ll find all high ceilings, polished wood and palm trees that the building feels like it was built for. There’s a casually elegant chill-out zone at the start of the journey through to the shiny, sparkling bar and a spacious restaurant beyond that, where plush booths built into sensual, inviting curves and beautifully-laid tables for small and large parties alike are supplemented by a stylish little alfresco terrace. All in all, it’s an understatedly chic, welcoming environment that’s bought a little bit of a West London vibe into the heart of historic Bath…

… and the food rocks to a similar West End beat, fresh (yes, fresh! The ghosts of Garfunkel’s must be wondering what the heck I’m going on about here) from a kitchen headed up by Johnny Joseph, who I fondly remember from his days at the helm of The Huntsman pub and I’m really happy to see so happily ensconced here.

We too were very happily temporarily ensconced in the super-pretty conservatory area of The Architect’s dining room for the evening, where we began with starters of an utterly gorgeous spicy sweetcorn soup swirled with a red pepper and sweetcorn salsa (sounds simple, but honestly, there was taste-complexity to the max going on here) and a globe of creamy burrata served on top of a super-seasonal medley of broad beans, peas and wild garlic. For mains, for me, tender, pan-fried chicken with smooth Gorgonzola gnocchi in a velvety white wine sauce, smoked pancetta adding an edge of umami to what could have been, in the wrong hands, an over over-indulgent combination. Across the table, plump fillets of grilled sea bream with cockle cream sauce and a lemon potato cake that, like the pancetta in my dish, beautifully balanced the creaminess of the sauce and brought zing to the whole thing.

Ah, but I can almost hear you saying, at this point… aren’t we on pub chain territory here? Aren’t all menus the same, across the whole chain? Isn’t a chain more of a tourist hotspot than a local folk kick-back zone? Oh, you need to get with the Architect’s Bath blueprint! Not only does the menu push fresh, local, seasonal produce to the fore, but it the whole venture gives fresh, seasoned locals priority too – not least of all, local businesses.

On the evening we visited, we made sure we got there in time to join in with the Electric Bear Co meet’n’greet (and there are plenty of their brews behind the bar as well, alongside our very own Bath Ales options and all manner of interesting guests). Bath’s very own, uniquely wonderful exciting wine retailer Novel Wines have their own, dedicated chalk board wine list firmly installed on the wall and, just t’other day, they hosted a Best of British Wine Dinner at The Architect – the first, I’m hoping, of many more to come. Bath and Bristol’s Crescent Club recently hosted a Crescent Club Social in the bar, there’s a Cotswold Gin Tasting coming up on Thursday 8 June (it’s free! But you do have to book), and the regular Pub Walks – which include a complimentary breakfast bap and a cuppa to fuel you up for a gentle, guided 5k stroll around local beauty spots (next one: May 28) – are proving very popular indeed, with dogs and their two-legged friends alike.

Does any of the above sound like uncheerful chain behaviour to you? No! That’s because there’s none of that kinda vibe going on here.

As the American architect John Portman once said, “buildings should serve people, not the other way around”. For the first time in a very long time, The Empire Hotel is serving its proper purpose to the people of Bath.