Styled Home Design completes design-only refurbishment of The Cricketers pub in Cambridge

Styled Home Design has completed a design-only refurbishment of The Cricketers, a pub and Thai restaurant on Melbourne Place in Cambridge, with the venue's new owners procuring and installing the work with their own team.

The scheme divides the venue into two spaces: a traditional English pub at the front and a restaurant-led dining room at the rear, according to the Society of British and International Interior Design (SBID). The trade body said the work was delivered on a modest budget.

The studio's own portfolio page describes the job as a low-investment, high-impact refurbishment of a central Cambridge fusion pub. It said a structured design pack guided the owners' decisions and helped them prioritise spend.

Natasha King, founder and principal designer of Styled Home Design, said: "Not every hospitality business needs, or can justify, a full-service fit-out." She said what such businesses need is a clear direction.

The brief

SBID said The Cricketers had recently changed ownership and that the interiors had gone more than a decade without significant investment. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), which lists the pub at 18 Melbourne Place, CB1 1EQ, with Greene King as freehold owner, separately records a change of licensee in spring 2026. CAMRA's listing also says the pub was extensively refurbished, and for a while renamed, a few years ago, and that it was previously called the First & Last.

King said the front bar and the dining room serve different moments in a customer's visit, so each needed its own personality while reading as one venue.

Styled Home Design's scope covered concept design, spatial direction, material and finish selection, colour palette development, bar design concepts, furniture, fittings and equipment (FF&E) direction and overall aesthetic strategy. Procurement and implementation stayed with the owners, SBID said, as budget control was a priority.

The two spaces

In the front bar, the design uses a deep green palette, patterned wallpapers, leather seating and dark timber flooring. The back bar was redesigned as the focal point of the room, with mirrored shelving and a tiled frontage.

The rear restaurant moves to mustard, dusky pink and soft red tones. Timber textures, slatted detailing and bamboo-inspired tiles reference the Thai menu, which SBID said was done without tipping into themed decor. The restaurant service bar was also redesigned.

Joe Baron of The Cricketers said: "The feedback from customers has been incredibly positive, with so many commenting on how much more welcoming and cohesive the pub and restaurant now feel."

The studio

SBID and the studio describe Styled Home Design as Cambridge-based. Companies House records Styled Home Design Ltd, company number 14023073, as incorporated on 4 April 2022 and active, with a registered office in Great Whelnetham, Suffolk, under SIC code 74100, specialised design activities. In February 2026 King told SBID the studio was approaching its fourth year.

According to the studio's website, King spent more than a decade in senior marketing and management roles at large UK hospitality groups before becoming Head of Guest Experience, a role the studio says placed interior design at its core. She holds a BA(Hons) in Business Management and an Interior Design Institute diploma and is SBID Accredited.

CAMRA describes The Cricketers as food-oriented, with Thai cuisine from a team with many years' experience in the area.