Suffolk brewer Adnams has opened a flagship for its nine-strong chain of wine and beer stores in its home town of Southwold.

Dubbed Cellar & Kitchen, the 3,000 sq ft shop combines contemporary architecture with environmentally friendly construction and energy-saving techniques. The brewer claims that it is the UK’s first purpose-built wine store and is also Adnams’ only store to carry an eco-café.

Among its green features, the store has a high roof to aid internal temperature regulation – with large windows to ensure high levels of natural daylight – while the store’s shell has been insulated with sheep’s wool. The timber-framed eco-café has a vegetation-covered roof and a rainwater recycling system for flushing the toilets. Outside the store, a market square has been created with reclaimed timber groynes and Suffolk shingle.
Around a fifth of the 500 wines that are sold in the shop are organic or are produced biodynamically, according to Adnams director of retail Rupert Farquharson.

With the exception of a branch in Richmond, Surrey, all of the Cellar & Kitchen stores are located in East Anglia. The Southwold flagship was designed by London-based architectural practice Ash Sakula. The store is intended to give Adnams an eco-store in the town that will sit alongside its energy-efficient brewery and out-of-town eco-distribution centre.

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