Happy New Year, hope you all enjoyed your holidays. I’ve just returned from sunny Sydney and I feel fresh and ready to tackle a new year.  I’m not a big fan of New Years resolutions but I think it’s a great time to reflect and plan for the year ahead. Here’s to a bigger and better year.

Sydney once again captured my heart with it’s shimmering harbour, buzzing streets and its laid back, anything-goes attitude. Since I was last there  a lot of new exciting restaurants and  little bars have popped up everywhere. And it’s the design and interiors that really caught my eye, which I’d like to share with you over the next week or so.  

First on my list is a butcher shop called Victor Churchill (vegetarians look away). I never thought I would blog about a butchery but this is no ordinary butcher.  In the leafy streets of Woollahra I stumbled across what can only be described as a boutique butchery, some call it the Tiffany of butchers.  As soon as you walk through the door it oozes luxury and indulgence. From the marble floor and rich timber wall panelling to the mirrored cabinets displaying dressed veal racks, forests of upright lamb shanks, to the huge pieces of meat rotating on a conveyor belt in a glass dry-age room, finished with a backlit Himalayan salt brick wall.

Butchers perform behind a glass-walled butchery so spectators can watch the meat being freshly prepared.

The design is a blend of traditional European butcher shop in look and feel with modern design elements.

If you like your meat prepared with a dose of drama and humour, Victor Churchill is the place. Epitomised by their ‘chook cam’ wall (a nod to a Louis Vuitton window display),  multiple video cameras watch the daily specials, which are housed within a glass domed display on a pedestal. 

I love that they have applied principles from up-market luxury clothing boutiques to stand out in their own sector. It’s genius and as a result they have created something outstanding and unique. We definitely need something like this on London.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

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