Building a Better Bookshop
Mid way through expanding The Bookshop in August 2019
Edwin & Dorian Kirk, Owners and directors of A Rule of Tum
The Bookshop is a steak-led restaurant that opened in 2015 and is one of three restaurants in the ‘A Rule of Tum’ group.
In 2018, with rising rents at our Hereford site and a desire to bring a greater food offering locally, we launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to expand our restaurants and secure our future. We successfully raised over £500,000.
↑ Building work started the day we got the keys, the first task, tear down the walls to see what’s behind.
After purchasing the properties of our two original Hereford sites (The Bookshop and Burger Shop) on Aubrey Street and a neighbouring empty unit, we were able to use the crowdfunding money to expand and refurbish The Bookshop restaurant. By knocking through from the original Bookshop restaurant to the empty building next door, a much larger space was created. This allowed for an expansion of the kitchen and therefore increasing what we could cater for. We have grown from a 4 day-a-week, to a 7 day-a-week operation introducing exciting brunch, coffee, bar and cocktail options to our already successful steak-led evening menu and our award-winning Sunday lunch (Observer Food Monthly Awards, Best Sunday Lunch 2017).
↑ Walls down and plans made the steel beams to hold everything together go in and the space really starts to shine.
We are using local makers and craftspeople where we can: plates from local potter Steve Meek, leather aprons handmade by Toria at Field and Found, coffee roasted by Mark and Tre at Method Roastery in Worcester, lighting designed by Simon from Fritz Fryer, and local art from printmaker Sunny Todd, to name a few. We continue to follow our ethos of ‘local first’, meaning we can help grow a community through food.
Steve Meek hard at work making our plates and bowls. - https://www.stevemeekceramics.com/
The Bookshop will open its doors once more in September 2019, championing Hereford as a county of great food suppliers, restaurants, and makers.
