Most of our work happens in private homes, which is exactly where a restored beam should be — but it does mean the finished result rarely gets seen beyond the family who commissioned it. The exceptions are the pubs, the bakery and the showhomes below. Their owners let us loose on genuinely old timber, and the results are on view to anyone who walks in and orders a pint.
If you're weighing up a finish for your own beams — warm, weathered or aged oak — seeing it in a working room, under normal lighting, with people leaning on the bar in front of it, tells you more than any photograph does.
Pubs, inns and a bakery
Six places, all open to walk in: three pubs, two inns and a bakery. Four of them stand on timber frames dating back to the 16th and 17th centuries — exactly the kind of structural oak this work exists for; the Bold Forester is Victorian. No appointment needed anywhere; opening times below are correct as of August 2026 but always worth a quick check before a special trip.
-
The Bull's Head, Fishbourne
99 Fishbourne Road, Fishbourne, Chichester, PO19 3JP
Bar Mon–Thu 11am–10pm, Fri–Sat 11am–11pm, Sun 12–9pm · Food Tue–Sun (closed Mon)
A 17th-century farmhouse turned pub, restaurant and B&B just outside Chichester, with the kind of heavy ceiling beams that only come from a building this old.
Visit The Bull's Head → -
The Grantley Arms, Wonersh
The Street, Wonersh, Guildford, GU5 0PE
Bar Mon–Sat 11am–11pm, Sun 11am–10.30pm · Food Mon–Sat 12–9.30pm, Sun 12–9pm
A 16th-century half-timbered pub at the centre of one of Surrey's prettiest villages, with the kind of exposed frame that defines the building.
Visit The Grantley Arms → -
The Bold Forester, Soberton
Forester Road, Soberton, Southampton, SO32 3QG
Bar Mon–Sat 12–11pm, Sun 12–10.30pm · Kitchen Mon 12–3pm, Tue–Sat 12–8pm, Sun 12–5pm
An 1840s pub in the village of Soberton, near the Meon Valley, with a beer garden and a beamed interior worth the drive on its own.
Visit The Bold Forester → -
The Greyfriar, Chawton
Winchester Road, Chawton, Alton, GU34 1SB
Mon & Tue 3–8pm, Wed–Sat 12–11pm, Sun 12–9pm · Kitchen closed Mon & Tue, Wed–Sat 12–3pm & 6–8pm, Sun 12–4pm
A 16th-century inn directly opposite Jane Austen's house in Chawton — sit in the bar and you're a few feet from beams that pre-date her by two centuries.
Visit The Greyfriar → -
The Queen's Inn, Hawkhurst
Rye Road, Hawkhurst, Kent, TN18 4EY
Food Mon–Thu 12–8.30pm, Fri–Sat 12–8.45pm, Sun 12–8pm · Breakfast daily 8.30–10am (Sat until 12pm)
Established in 1561, on the Kent–Sussex border. An AA Rosette kitchen now sits under a frame that's been standing since the Tudors.
Visit The Queen's Inn → -
Bunce's, Marlborough
100 High Street, Marlborough, SN8 1HD
A restaurant and bakery on Marlborough's wide High Street — proof that a beam restoration doesn't have to live in a pub to earn its keep. The restored beams are upstairs in the dining room rather than the ground-floor bakery, so ask to be seated up there.
Visit Bunce's →
A pair of self-build showhomes, in photographs
One more project, of a different kind: new-build houses designed around old-building thinking, rather than a centuries-old frame. It sits outside the six above because it is the one entry you can no longer walk into.
-
Potton Self Build, Caxton & Gransden showhomes
Caxton & Gransden, Cambridgeshire
We worked with Potton, the self-build and timber frame specialist, on the exposed oak in their Caxton and Gransden showhomes for more than 20 years — a chance to see the finish in a brand-new build rather than a centuries-old one. Potton was acquired by Home@ix in 2025 and its visitor centre has since moved to Devon, so we've kept our own photographic record of the work here instead.
See the photographs →
We also post finished work as it happens — you'll find it on Instagram, alongside the three appearances our beams have made on Channel 4's Old House New Home.