I’d like to propose that the behind the bar space is repurposed to a kitchen space and am looking for feedback / thoughts.
It would involve having a sink with running hot and cold water for keeping things nice and clean! Worktop space to prepare food. Hot drink making facilities. We have a microwave already but if it was desirable we could upgrade that to one with convection oven which would allow cooking things like Pizzas or more healthy snacks for members. It would even be possible to have a freezer for summer Ice pops or lollies or perhaps
Waste extraction is feasible with a pump or initially a bucket on a trolley would be doable. I love this idea personally but naturally I’d like to know what others think?
I’m on board with this, it would be nice to use the bar given how novel it is and also how bloody heavy the bar top is (reinforced too so not easy to cut up and throw out). Reusing it as a bar makes sense.
I definitely agree with moving snackspace over to the bar so that all eatables and drinkables are in the same area and would make the area feel much more unified rather than having food separated across the space.
Hot water I’m happy to install same as I did with the bathroom - there’s 25% off heaters at Toolstation for the moment so if others and the board agee we could save a few bob on this (if we are planning a secondary hot water station it may be worth getting it anyway and save?)
For drainage I’m wondering if we could route the waste pipe on the outside of the wall in the corridor to make life a bit easier when installing it? If not it won’t be hard to have a sump pump pushing water up above the now single fire door and then have it flow downwards towards the bathroom.
If there is concensus on this I can put together a quote for installing hot water behind the bar using the feed in from the corridor.
We would also want to move a fire extinguisher to be by the bar too just in case I get hungry and try and cook, usually with disastrous results.
Regarding hot drinks do we still have that coffee maker? I remember it got some use in the last space
It was a bar at one point so it seems the perfect place to put a refreshment area in. I seem to recall we were planning on putting a sink in very close to the bar area when we first moved down to the current space, so there should be drainage nearby.
I do like the idea of pretending to be a barista while people explain their problems with Arduino bootloaders.
There is an existing cold water feed but there’s no drainage, back when we had snackspace in that corner there was discussions about how to get drainage into that corner / area. Running a pipe across woody dusty was one option but it would close off the emergency exit so I think was ruled out. So unless it’s pumped you may end up with buckets of dirty water being left around.
I think it would be first prudent to evaluate / detail the boards plan, if the line of reasoning comes up in so far as we have too many members but not enough places to put stuff (unless part of that plan is splitting things across multiple locations). Since that plan may influence / have an impact on the above.
A pump would be involved and is possible to implement without disrupting any existing infrastructure.
Your second comment misses the point of this post. I’m not discussing members storage here. I know you’re very passionate about that but we have a separate thread for it.
Putting implementation aside, for the moment, would you (or do you think others would) value having hot water and a place to be able to clean your hands/food consuming equipment? That’s what this thread is trying to gauge
I’m doing my best to avoid discussing members storage directly in this thread.
My point was it may still have an impact on the area you’re planning on using, so just to be careful about jumping the gun, especially since the area hasn’t been cleared out yet.
Part of the problem in the space as far as food stuffs or a cafe, is that the floor and roof is very dusty. We’ve managed to mitigate this in certain areas such as metalwork with paint and walls. One of the causes can be lots of bumping about upstairs and loose paint on the ceiling as well as lots of dust coming up from the floor. So whichever area you choose is probably best to consider painting the upper / lower parts as part of that plan, or whatever ideas someone can come up with to keep the dust off the coffee machines for example.
I’m not sure the existing snackspace is any better either to be fair, I’ve noticed black spots on the ceiling around that side of the snackspace (near the 2nd front doors we don’t normally use) With drain pipes that may need sorting out.
I think what you propose is a good use for that space and the ability to cook things using a convection microwave/oven would be a benefit especially if we have a freezer that would allow us to sell pizzas or some other types of frozen meals in snackspace (alongside ice cream)
My only comment would be I would prefer us to look at a coffee machine that makes one cup but not the pod system (horrible plastic waste) as having a coffee machine which makes a full pot whilst might be convenient is likely to result in us having a mouldy coffee pot within a few weeks
Plus with the heatpress we can make some hackspace branded mugs
Good point on the potential for debris Richard. Paint or some sort of suspended cloth could be a solution to this risk.
Hackspace Merch! That’s a good idea Rossy.
I agree about coffee pots I’m sure we found new life in the one upstairs more than once .
Maybe just instant to begin with. If there was demand I’m sure we could pledge for a fancy coffee machine that uses beans directly. There are reusable metal pods that take ground coffee too so there are options to consider in future but that’s something that could be looked at once set up / according to demand.
I support the proposal to utilize the bar area as a space outfitted with facilities that allow members to prepare drinks/food and socialize while doing so.
Dust will likely be a concern but with regular cleaning/effective storage it might not be too bad/manageable, plus with improvements to ventilation/air quality in the pipeline it should help reduce the amount of dust anyway. Mugs would need to be stored in a cupboard for example so they stay clean after washing
Hanging fabric sheets from the ceiling might also give the area a different look and help distinguish it as separate from the rest of the space despite the open layout.
I’d like to note though that the kitchen proposal only applies to the left hand side on the bar (the longer side).
I’ve taken advice and researched how the waste extraction would work and put together a document outlining the supplies we’d need to make the waste extraction possible and general items necessary to complete the idea.
The ÂŁ99 pump looks like it would work well with the standard 40mm inlet (used on kitchen sinks and related plumbing) and the outlet of 22mm is standard and uses for fresh water. We also have a reel of 15mm pipe somewhere in the space, so we could use this.
I was going to suggest a £60 sump pump but that has BSP output which I have no bloody idea how that’s meant to fit into anything else.
The bar would work nicely as… well, a bar. I imagine we could get good use out of it given the water inlet already there and the space for kitchen units underneath the bar top.
In terms of electrical my thought is that we could use an extension cord to start with given the pump is only 250W and the only other thing would be a kettle to start with, which is only on for a minute or two at a time. Then if we want ovens and so on this can be retrofitted in.
It looks good to me. Using standard stuff such as the drain pipework will make it much easier to install into the drainage in the bathroom.
Thanks for putting that list together - the Saniflo pump was the one I was looking at on Screwfix as well. The rest looks good too.
I think we should consider what Ben’s saying here as well. It is a lot of plumbing work to do and we should maybe have a think about whether it’s worth it to have a bar there rather than closer to the existing drain. I think we can make a bar easily if we want one. Not saying we should abandon the idea, just stop and have a think about it for a bit.
An extension lead doesn’t work for anything like a kettle or oven or coffee machine. There are no sockets nearby as we stripped the dado rails out for storage.
I forgot to add that we need to plan if we will have expenses for wiring and necessary fittings. We may have some sockets and connection units too. We are getting low on cable and we may need more than one circuit running to the area.
Note we have the same problems at the front. The runs might be a bit longer but will still have the same issues.
It’s been working for the past 5? years
I’m clearly not suggesting running an oven off an extension lead by the way that would be melty.
But an extension would work to get us off the ground with a 1.5kW-2kW kettle and the pump, neither would be running for any amount of time.
I’m talking about getting something working safely, not the ideal solution which I know the electricians will be looking to install in due time. An extension cable with limited appliances means we aren’t waiting for installation of sockets.
or perhaps 
If not it won’t be hard to have a sump pump pushing water up above the now single fire door and then have it flow downwards towards the bathroom.
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