The start of the Summer term has marked the inauguration of the Senior School’s newly refurbished dining hall, a long-awaited project that was carried out with the support of the catering company, Holroyd Howe, over the Easter break.

The project aimed to transform the dining experience for students and create a modern and contemporary space for mealtimes and functions for day girls and boarders. Simon Butcher, Director of Finance and Operations commented, “Food is such an important part of our school life, especially for our boarders so we wanted to create a beautiful, modern dining room where the girls could gather and share the wonderful food cooked by our fabulous catering team from Holroyd Howe.”

Sallie Taylor, Head of Marketing and Admissions commented, “The improvements to the dining room have really helped the flow and experience of meal times – this is an important space within the school, used by staff and students alike, and the refurbishment has been exceptional. With healthy eating playing a crucial role in the wellbeing of students and staff, this refurbishment of the main dining room has been transformative.” And Ellie Clark, Lettings and Events manager said, “It has created a modern, high quality and engaging environment for the girls to eat in, enhancing the catering service and the whole dining experience.”

The refurb project has certainly been well received by the girls. Amongst the ohhs and ahhhs, our Head Girl, Daisy John exclaimed, “I love the dining hall, it looks so bright and fun!”

Looking ahead, the dining hall refurbishment will allow far more flexibility and a space for functions and events. Kate Reynolds, Head said, “I am excited to be thinking ahead to the events and functions we can hold in both these rooms once current restrictions lift and equally pleased that we have such an uplifting setting for our meals for day girls and boarders alike.”

The project would not have got underway without the support from the independent school catering service, Holroyd Howe. Graham Lewis, General Catering Manager said, "Holroyd Howe are so pleased to be part of the fantastic dining room refurbishment at RHS Bath. The new hot counters and cold table give our team so many options to be able to serve high-quality nutritious food to all the boarding girls, day girls and school staff. The reaction to the changes by the girls today has been the highlight of this very challenging year. We appreciate how important mealtimes are and we are very excited about the future."

Tom Lowe, Design Director of Western Blueprint Limited said “It was a pleasure to work on this project for Royal High School, Bath. Developing the school’s aspiration for a contemporary catering facility in the setting of an historic building gave us a great opportunity to use our creativity and experience to improve the flow, functionality and appearance of the servery area. The design reflects the high quality of food on offer and is conceived to inspire a healthy eating ethos in both students and staff at the school. Throughout the project, the school maintained a very supportive client team, who took a keen interest in both the development and delivery of the project. It’s wonderful to see the new facility come to life with such enthusiasm.

We hope that through better dining, we have created an environment which our girls look forward to using, helping to promote a positive attitude towards healthy eating and supporting their overarching learning experience at the school.