Neptune

Walk into a Neptune store – there are now more than 30 of them across the UK and Europe – and it feels as if you’ve just arrived at someone’s home (someone with utterly impeccable taste). The British designer and maker of furniture, lighting and accessories for both house and garden is reinventing the retail experience, creating stores that look like anything but, where customers are simply invited to make themselves comfortable. It’s far more than the usual case of styling the proverbial shop floor to create a bedroom area or a soupçon of a kitchen here and a nod to a living room there. A Neptune ‘home’ has full-blown rooms with working kitchens, fully-stocked fridges and often a roaring fire (if you pop by on a cold day). ‘We want our stores to feel like a home from home,’ says John Sims-Hilditch, Neptune’s co-founder. ‘Yes, we design and craft pieces to fill your home, from cabinetry to candles and cushions. But we edit and present our collections in such a way that decorating your home becomes much less overwhelming. Our stores are a way to get up close and personal with our products, to help you envisage them in a home context, but also to fill you with interior design ideas to take home with you too.’

Take one of the newest stores, Neptune Bath, which is based in the heart of the historic city in the charming quarter known for its independent boutiques. As soon as you walked towards its red-brick façade (it used to be Bath’s tramshed depot – Neptune loves to renovate and restore historic buildings for its stores), and spy the wide terrace peppered with Neptune’s elegant garden furniture, there’s a real sense of calm and space. It’s a welcome retreat from the hustle and bustle of the city. Inside, customers will find Neptune’s life-like flowers to the right, a dog bowl to the left, and a warm, welcoming hello from the Neptune team.

There’s an abundance of space to mooch at leisure. Though all four of its timber kitchens are there to be seen, they’re spread out so that guests can meander from room to room feeling as though each new kitchen is like stumbling into a completely different house. The rooms are connected and yet distinct from one another at the same time. It’s very tempting to ask if you can move in. And you almost can at Neptune Bath.

Neptune has designed the interiors for some of Bath’s most coveted apartments – One Tram Yard – a number of which are still available to buy – in the same building. Not only that, Neptune Bath is where you can find The Provenist, Neptune’s first foray into wholesome, homecooked cafe culture, and a range of workshops, held in-store every month. Be it flower-arranging or cookery masterclasses, every Neptune store has its own local schedule of events. Places to get together, relax and gather inspiration for your own home, Neptune stores are about far, far more than shopping.