Brasserie Olivia brings French brasserie design to Sloane Square with B3 Designers and Pierre Frey interiors

A new French brasserie has arrived in Sloane Square, and its interiors are designed to evoke cross-channel glamour without slipping into period pastiche. Brasserie Olivia, the first London outpost of the La Nouvelle Garde group, opens at 1 Sloane Square in the space formerly occupied by the David Mellor cutlery showroom. The restaurant is the group’s 11th site, joining five in Paris and five others across France from Lille to Marseille.

The project is part of a wave of new openings around the square, including Martino’s in the old Hugo Boss site, Clare Smyth’s Corenucopia on Holbein Place, and a new pub from the Walmer Castle team arriving this autumn. For La Nouvelle Garde, the move marks the brand’s first step outside France, bringing its brasserie formula to a London audience.

Interior design: Gallic references through a contemporary lens

B3 Designers, the London-based studio behind eight of La Nouvelle Garde’s previous restaurants, led the interior design. Founder Mark Bithrey said the team aimed to capture the energy and sophistication of the 1920s Riviera hotels that once attracted the British aristocracy, but reinterpreted for the present day.

The result avoids direct period recreation. Instead, the space uses a palette of textures and materials to suggest a French atmosphere without leaning on clichés. Outside, a plant-strewn pavement terrace extends the dining area onto the street. Inside, checkerboard tiling sets the tone at the entrance, while mirrors and Murano-style chandeliers diffuse the natural light from the wraparound windows. Vintage posters and postcards from the South of France line the walls, adding personal character without overwhelming the room.

The former showroom’s existing proportions — high ceilings and generous floor space — have been preserved, allowing the design to feel open rather than compartmentalised. The layout includes an oyster counter and visible lobster tanks, tying the interior’s theatrics directly to the food offering.

Material palette: Pierre Frey textiles and layered colour

Textiles play a central role in the interior scheme. B3 Designers specified fabrics from Pierre Frey, the French maison known for its heritage prints and contemporary collections. The upholstery introduces layers of colour and texture that soften the harder surfaces of the tiling and mirrors.

Bithrey described the effect as “richly layered and distinctly French without becoming nostalgic or overly themed.” The choice of Pierre Frey is significant for a design audience: the brand’s patterns tie the restaurant to a longer tradition of French decorative arts, while the contemporary application keeps the space from reading as a museum piece.

The food offer: brasserie classics in a design setting

The menu, overseen by head chef Rachide Sambu Baldé, stays within the brasserie tradition of reliable, repeatable classics. Baldé’s background includes stints at Galvin La Chapelle and The Five Fields, but the kitchen here is not focused on chef-driven creativity. Instead, the emphasis is on consistency: gougères with Parmesan, brandy-marinated foie gras, bavette steak with frites, and crêpe Suzette are all designed to meet the expectations of a returning customer.

Seafood is handled at the oyster counter and from lobster tanks, where diners select their crustacean before it is prepared with garlic butter. The wine list is exclusively French, with over 20 options by the glass. The restaurant operates from breakfast through to late-night drinks, positioning itself as a full-day destination for the neighbourhood.

Why this matters for design professionals

For readers tracking hospitality design in London, Brasserie Olivia offers a case study in how a proven French brasserie format adapts to a new city without losing its identity. The collaboration between a Paris-born operator and a London design studio is a reminder that successful restaurant interiors rarely rely on a single national reference. B3 Designers’ use of Pierre Frey textiles, checkerboard tiling, and Riviera-era references shows how a contemporary brief can absorb historical influences without turning into a theme.

The project also demonstrates the continued appeal of the former David Mellor showroom as a retail-and-hospitality space. The location, with its street-level visibility and interior volume, has been adapted for a full-service restaurant that needs to work across breakfast, lunch, and dinner shifts. For architects and interior designers, the spatial planning — how the oyster counter, main dining area, and terrace relate to each other — is worth noting as a small-scale, high-traffic layout.

The wider context of Sloane Square’s current development — with multiple new openings in adjacent properties — suggests that the area is seeing renewed interest from operators who want a London address with both foot traffic and residential proximity. Brasserie Olivia is part of that shift, and its design choices will be read as a signal of how the brasserie format can evolve outside its home market.

Source: Wallpaper, “Sloane Square gets the full French treatment at Brasserie Olivia” — https://www.wallpaper.com/travel/restaurants/brasserie-olivia-london-review