Hotel Chocolat opened its first dedicated shop-cum-café in Bristol last week, following a trial at its Kensington High Street store in London.

Co-founder and chief executive Angus Thirlwell said the shop, in Bristol’s Cabot Circus, is designed “to create a social space where customers could relax and enjoy a longer dwell time and [the] Hotel Chocolat experience”.

Thirlwell said he plans to open cafés in stores where there is enough space – a café requires a store that is a minimum of 1,200 sq ft. The average size of a store is 800 sq ft. He will also consider different formats, such as a two-floor shop with café on the first floor. In addition the retailer will focus on smaller stores of around 700 sq ft, “to enable us to sweat the space more effectively in these questionable economic times”.

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