Hospitality Flooring
Restaurant & café floors — fit-out hours, food-safe finishes.
Slip-rated matt timber, fitted on overnight and weekend phasing so trading isn't interrupted. From independent restaurants and wine bars to boutique cafés and brunch spots — same craft team, same finish standards.
Sussex · Hampshire · Surrey · overnight & weekend phasing · R10 slip rating available · £5M public liability
29
years on the tools
R10
slip rating available
5.0
★ · 215 reviews
About restaurant & café flooring
Hospitality is not office fit-out — and the floor knows the difference.
A restaurant or café floor lives a different life from an office reception. It takes spills, grease, hot drink rings, the corner of every chair leg, the daily mopping cycle with chemistry that's harsher than anything a domestic floor ever sees. The wear pattern is concentrated — bar service, pass-to-table runs, the queue at the till — and the slip risk is real because the floor will be wet several times a day. None of that suits a stock office-grade lacquer or a standard oiled finish. The species, the build-up and the sealer all have to be chosen with the operating reality in mind, or the floor that looked beautiful on day one looks tired by month six.
We've been laying timber floors across Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire since 1997, and a growing share of the work is hospitality — independent restaurants, wine bars, boutique cafés, gastropub conversions. The brief is always the same in shape: keep trading, keep the brand book, keep the floor honest. Our answer is a small family team that integrates with your fit-out programme rather than colonising it — overnight and weekend phasing where the room can't close, a Bona anti-slip lacquer or a two-pack PU on the most exposed runs, hardwax oil with an R10 rating where the brief calls for a natural matt look, and a handover pack with the cleaning chemistry agreed up-front so your kitchen porter doesn't void the warranty on day one.
Overnight & weekend phasing so trading isn't interrupted
R10 slip rating available on lacquer and hardwax oil finishes
Bona anti-slip lacquer for the highest-wear runs
Food-safe, NCASS-compatible cleaning regime supplied on handover
RAMS + £5M PL + £10M EL — fully insured for commercial work
12-month defect liability — single point of contact post-handover
Most common
Independent Restaurant
Refurbs and new fit-outs for owner-operator restaurants — usually a 6 to 8 week programme on a tight handover. Engineered oak in a smoked or fumed tone with a Bona anti-slip lacquer for the bar-to-pass run, hardwax oil on the dining-room boards for warmth underfoot. We'll show you two finish samples on-site under your actual evening lighting before the main order commits — the same board looks different at 2700K and at 4000K, and getting it right on a sample saves the panic on opening night.
Brand-driven
Boutique Café
Coffee-shop and brunch-spot fit-outs where the floor is part of the brand identity — wide-plank pale oak with a near-invisible hardwax oil, smoked engineered planks for a warmer look, or painted reclaimed pine for a Scandi feel. We work to brand-book swatches where one exists, and we'll suggest sympathetic alternatives where the specified species isn't going to survive the spill volume. Compact spaces tend to suit a single overnight install plus a finish day.
Late-night wear
Wine Bar & Bistro
Bistros and wine bars carry the heaviest wear on the smallest footprint — bar service, standing-room, late hours. Deep-toned engineered oak or walnut sealed in two-pack polyurethane on the exposed runs, hardwax oil through the seating zones. Anti-slip rating to R10 on the bar side as standard. We phase the work overnight so the lunchtime cover keeps trading, and we'll arrange a clean-down hand-back the morning after every shift.
Volume + speed
Coffee Shop & Brunch Spot
High-volume daytime venues with a strict opening time and no closure window — we'll usually phase one zone per overnight shift across a Sunday-Monday-Tuesday block, leaving the front-of-house trading on the days in between. Engineered oak with a Bona commercial-wear lacquer for fast cure and consistent matt sheen, full handover before Wednesday morning service. Cleaning regime card included so your team knows which products are safe.
Gastropub overlap
Open-Plan Kitchen-Dining
Where the kitchen pass, bar and dining floor are all visible from the same sightline, the floor has to read as one material across three wear classes. We'll specify the species and tone for cohesion, then build up the finish differently across the zones — two-pack PU on the kitchen-side run, hardwax oil through dining. From the room it reads continuous; under your mop bucket it behaves correctly. (For full gastropub and traditional pub work, see our pub flooring service.)
How we run a hospitality fit-out
From tender to handover with a cleaning regime card.
Hospitality work rewards process discipline more than any other commercial sector — the dates are immovable, the brand book is set, and the chef has an opinion about the bar floor. Our rhythm is built around that reality.
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Tender & finish discussion
Drawings, brand book, programme, opening date. We'll respond on a like-for-like spec where it's already nailed, and where it's open we'll propose two or three timber-and-finish combinations matched to the wear pattern and aesthetic — including which sealer chemistry will survive your intended cleaning regime. Insurance certificates, RAMS template and example QA pack supplied at tender.
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Finish samples viewed under your lighting
Before the main material order commits, we'll bring board and finish samples to site so you can see the species and sheen under your actual front-of-house lighting at the time of day the floor will mostly be seen. Pale oaks read very differently at 2700K candle-warmth than they do under daylight LEDs — getting the finish signed off on a sample saves the panic on opening night.
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Sub-floor preparation
Tramex moisture readings, BS 8203 sub-floor compliance check, 3m straight-edge to SR2 flatness. Anything out of tolerance gets self-levelled or floated before the timber lands. Most hospitality buildings are older fabric — we expect remedial sub-floor work and we cost it in honestly rather than discover it on day one.
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Acclimatisation where it's needed
Solid-wood and parquet boards are delivered to site ahead of installation, broken from packaging and acclimatised in the conditioned space — ideally with the HVAC running at operating set-point so the boards meet the room they'll live in. Engineered flooring doesn't need the same acclimatisation window, so we'll advise on exactly what your specified floor requires. Where acclimatisation applies, a daily temperature and RH log goes into the QA file and protects your warranty if there's ever a movement claim.
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Overnight & weekend install
Glue-down, secret-nail or floating per spec, phased into your trading pattern. We'll usually run a 9pm-to-5am shift in occupied venues, sweep and protect for service, and pick up the same evening — repeated until the install is complete. Dust isolation with dust-extracted tooling and polythene dust sheets so the kitchen pass doesn't shut down. PPE and noise discipline to the venue's licence conditions and any neighbour-sensitive timings.
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Finish & cure
Three-pass sand on solid and parquet jobs with dust extraction on every sanding machine, then your specified finish — a Bona lacquer or its anti-slip variant on the highest-wear runs, hardwax oil where the brief calls for a natural matt look, two-pack PU on the most exposed zones. Cure schedule shared with the GM so the kitchen and FoH teams have clean dates for re-occupation.
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Handover, cleaning regime card & defect liability
Final walkthrough with the operator and the FoH manager. QA pack delivered on handover — material certificates, moisture logs, finish data sheets, photographic record. The cleaning regime card lists the specific products that are safe for your sealer chemistry (NCASS-compatible where required) so your KP team can't accidentally strip the floor on day one. 12-month defect liability runs from practical completion.
Recent restaurant & café flooring work
A few of our restaurant & café flooring projects.
Real homes where this work has just gone in — across Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire.
Petersfield area, GU31
Golden bamboo showroom floor
Golden-amber strand bamboo run as narrow boards through a retail showroom, stepping up into a raised display area beside a glass balustrade - tight vertical grain finished to a hard-wearing satin sheen. The kind of durable commercial floor we’d lay and finish near Petersfield.
Haslemere, GU27
Grey-toned oak herringbone parquet
Pale grey-brown oak herringbone with a plain-block border, swept neatly around a fireplace and granite hearth - soft, washed tone with quiet grain, finished in a low-sheen oil for minimal glare. The kind of refined parquet floor we’d lay in a Haslemere setting.
Midhurst, GU29
Whitewashed oak herringbone parquet
Pale whitewashed oak herringbone running through a bright open-plan room out to bifold garden doors - soft grey-toned timber with subtle grain, finished in a flat matt oil that keeps it light and low-glare. The kind of airy parquet floor we’d lay in a Midhurst space.
Restaurant & Café Flooring across the region
Restaurant & Café Flooring from Chichester to Emsworth.
Restaurant & Café Flooring is the bread and butter of the workshop. You’ll see our van rolling out of Bognor Regis most weeks toward Chichester, Haslemere, Petersfield, Midhurst, Arundel, Petworth and Emsworth — the postcodes across Sussex, Surrey & Hampshire where restaurant & café flooring keeps the diary full. Hospitality timber, fitted on overnight and weekend phasing — slip-rated matt finishes, food-safe sealers, trading hours protected.
Whether the brief is a Georgian terrace in Chichester, a 1930s semi out near Haslemere, or a converted barn off the lanes around Emsworth, the spec and the standard don’t shift. Darren surveys on-site, sample boards stay with you for a fortnight under your own lighting, and the install runs in a single solid stretch — no day-trip back-and-forth, no chain of phone numbers, flat-rate quotes by the job not the mile. Family team since 1997, covering Sussex, Surrey & Hampshire from the same coastal base.
“Had engineered flooring installed by Forrestal Flooring. Fantastic workmanship, great customer service, and a thoroughly professional company. I would recommend them in a heartbeat.”
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Frequently asked
Questions about restaurant & café flooring.
Can you fit a restaurant floor without us closing for the day?
Yes — that's the most common ask, and most of our restaurant and café work is phased into overnight and weekend shifts. We'll typically run a 9pm-to-5am cycle, sweep and protect the floor for service, and pick up the same evening — repeated across the install. Where one zone (kitchen, bar, dining room) can be closed without losing the day's cover, we'll concentrate the work there and leave the rest trading. Programme dates are agreed at tender, not promised and apologised for.
What slip rating do you offer for hospitality floors?
R10 is available on both lacquer and hardwax oil systems — a Bona anti-slip lacquer on the lacquer side, an aggregate-bearing hardwax oil overcoat on the oil side. We'll typically specify R10 on the bar-side runs, the entry threshold and the kitchen-to-pass run, with a standard satin finish through the seating area. Higher ratings (R11/R12) are available where the room geometry or licensing conditions require it — that conversation belongs in the tender, not on day one of install.
Will your finishes survive commercial cleaning chemistry?
If the cleaning regime is matched to the finish, yes — for many years. The mismatch causes the damage, not the chemistry. We supply a cleaning regime card on handover listing the specific products that are safe for the sealer system on your floor (Bona Pro Cleaner is our default recommendation for most installations), and we'll happily brief your KP team in person at handover. Most regime-related damage we ever attend is from off-the-shelf supermarket products being used in error in the first month after handover.
Are your finishes food-safe?
Yes. Bona lacquer and its anti-slip variant are food-contact compliant once fully cured, as are our standard hardwax oil systems (Osmo, Loba). Full data sheets supplied at tender so your environmental health officer can sign them off ahead of install. For NCASS-registered operators we can supply the documentation in the format your scheme requires.
How long is the cure window before we can trade again?
Walk-on cure for a Bona commercial lacquer is around 6–12 hours, with furniture back in place from 12–24 hours; an oiled finish is walk-on from 12–18 hours and around 72 hours before furniture loading. Most of our restaurant installs hand back to FoH service within 24 hours of the final coat, on a 'soft' use protocol (no deep clean, no spills mopped with caustic) for the first few days while the finish reaches full hardness. We programme the cure window into the handover plan up-front so opening dates aren't a surprise.
Are you fully insured, and do you supply RAMS?
Yes — £5M public liability, £10M employer's liability, and method statements / RAMS supplied for every job as standard. Certificates available at tender stage. We'll happily complete a PQQ for the principal contractor or for the building's landlord where the lease conditions require it.
Do you work with fit-out PMs or do we have to engage you direct?
Both — comfortably. About half our hospitality work comes through fit-out PMs and main contractors (we slot into the programme, take direction from the lead PM, and respond on a like-for-like tender), and the other half comes direct from owner-operators (where we'll act as the floor's design lead and walk you through species, finish and programme decisions ourselves). Either model is fine — tell us at first contact and we'll shape the engagement accordingly.
What lead time should we plan around?
From a confirmed PO and a sample-mock signed off, we'll usually mobilise within 3–6 weeks for a standard hospitality fit-out. Tighter turnarounds are workable where we can hold material in stock — we'll be honest at tender about which combinations of species, finish and grade have stock-on-water lead times that affect the date. Where you're chasing a hard opening night, we'll re-shape the programme around the immovable dates rather than promise something we can't hold.
Ready to start?
Talk to Darren direct
07973 658149
Mon–Fri, 8am–6pm
Get a free survey for your restaurant & café flooring.
Darren will visit, measure up and walk you through species, finishes and lead times. No pressure, no hard sell — just specialist advice.
