Sneak peek inside Nailsworth’s unique new fusion tapas and wine bar The Vault

The Vault is a new fusion kitchen, wine and cocktail bar homed in the former HSBC bank on George Street.

For the last six months a team of builders and decorators have been transforming the interior of the historic Waterloo House into a modern and impressive new design.

On Saturday the new business threw opens its doors for the first time and welcomed dozens of new customers keen to explore and get a taste of the new cuisine.

The SNJ met operations manager Emma Stafford-Michael, 27, for an exclusive tour and a chat about the team’s plans for the future.

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“We are so excited to launch this new venture,” she said. “We think it’s going to be an incredible addition to the town."

Emma will be running The Vault on behalf of the landlords Caroline and Greg Saturley, who already own the award-winning pub The Hog in Horsley and busy café The Canteen.

Although they have a proven track record in the area, the couple are determined to transfer this success in a completely new direction.

The jewel in the crown of this new business will be a 50-seater tapas bar – which takes up the second floor of the giant open-plan room.

This restaurant is headed up by chef Nacho, who has created an “authentic and fusion style” menu from across the world.

As well as a taste of the Mediterranean countries of Greece, Cyprus and Spain, he will be incorporating flavours of both Japanese and Vietnamese cuisine.

“We want this to be something people have never experienced before,” explained Emma.

“Nacho has been working at the Hog to perfect his menu for the last few months. It’s something we’re all so excited to see come to life.

“For example, one of the dishes is an aubergine tempura with cucumber yoghurt dip. I think people are going to love it.”

While the restaurant dominates the first floor of the Vault, downstairs features an expansive cocktail and wine bar and a “chilled, comfy area”.

The décor for these impressive spaces are classy but modern. The building itself boats high ceilings, long wooden beams and giant curved windows.

Gold wallpaper and the wooden panelling are then set against a deep blue ceiling, from which shadowy lights hang down and are reflected in the various gigantic mirrors that adorn the main room.

The bar area is filed with old books, antique furniture and interesting furnishings. And towards the back several armchairs and comfy sofas have been arranged under low lights.

But the undeniable centre piece of the Vault is the 360° copper bar which lies right at its heart.

Emma continued: “One thing we really concentrated on was keeping as many of the bank’s original features as possible intact. We really wanted to preserve the history of the building.

“All the mahogany panelling on the walls and the Parquet floors have been left unaltered, and we have even left the original circular vault intact.”

Their efforts have clearly been successful. The building is grand and imposing, but also welcoming and warm.

“We really did start with a blank canvas, so it’s been a really creative project from start to finish,” said Emma.

“Work started back in January and things have taken longer than we thought to get everything together. Our lovely builders Chris, James and Rhys have been amazing.

“Ideally it will be a place people can come for just a quiet drink in the weekday or a couple of cocktails at the weekend.

“In the same way we want people to come in for just a few quick tapas or for a full meal.

“We are pretty sure it is the first ever tapas restaurant in Nailsworth. We certainly feel like we’re filling a niche in the market.

“But we want to stress we don’t feel like we’re in competition with other business in the town.

“We are looking forward to working with them to bring as many people to Nailsworth as possible to make the area thrive.”

As well as food and drinks Emma says the team already have a number of other things in the pipeline.

“We’re definitely going to be putting on music nights with gigs, DJs and possibly open mic nights,” she says.

“And people have also suggested doing things like silent film nights and even speed dating. We want this to be a place completely open to the community.”

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For the first few weeks the Vault will be open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Due to high interest they are not taking booking yet.

For more information visit www.thevaultnailsworth.co.uk/

You can also visit its page of Facebook here: www.facebook.com/thevaultnailsworth/