No Badge, No Boundaries: How The Cupola Is Riding the Wave of a Growing Hospitality Shift
Published On Friday 9 May 2025 by Sticky Beak
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What’s in a name? Increasingly, not a lot - at least in hospitality. Across the UK, more venues are stepping away from traditional titles like ‘pub’, ‘tearoom’ or ‘café’ and choosing broader terms like ‘kitchen’ or ‘house’ instead. And it’s not just a branding choice - it’s a reflection of changing consumer expectations.
The Cupola in Stoney Middleton, the Peak District, is one such venue benefiting from this shift. Since opening in February 2024, it has defied easy categorisation. It serves griddled breakfasts and Neapolitan pizzas, cocktails and coffee, casual lunches and special occasion dinners - all without fitting neatly into a box. And now, just one year on, it’s celebrating its busiest sales period yet, over the Easter holidays, with sales 45% up on the previous year.
That is alongside its recent new business award in the prestigious Visit Peak District and Derbyshire Tourism Awards.
Owner, Colin Hall, believes this recent success is down to The Cupola’s refusal to be pigeonholed.
“We never set out to be a pub or a café,” Colin explains. “We just wanted to create a place where you can eat and drink really well, at any time of day. That can be surprisingly hard to explain in Britain - people are used to venues having a ‘badge’. But we’re seeing that shift. People now come in for breakfast get-togethers, linger over lunch, have a cup of coffee with some cake, and stay for dinner. They get it.”
And it’s not just anecdotal. Hospitality reports have noted a move away from rigid meal times and venue ‘types’, as more people seek relaxed, quality-led dining that fits around modern lives. From ‘kitchens’ that open morning to night, to hybrid venues mixing food, events, and culture, flexibility is becoming the new norm.
It’s a model that The Cupola has embraced wholeheartedly. Situated on the site of an 18th-century smelting mill, it combines a contemporary menu of flame-cooked and wood-fired dishes with a visitor centre and heritage walking trails. Guests can explore the local area’s geological history - including a spectacular fossil display of ancient marine life - before returning for a flat white or a full three-course meal.
The Cupola also benefits from luxury holiday apartments next door, making it ideal for a long weekend or overnight stay.
This blend of heritage, hospitality, and all-day appeal helped earn The Cupola its recent silver award for Best New Business - and is now drawing visitors from far beyond the village.
As more British venues swap labels for freedom and quality, The Cupola offers a case study in how going badge-free might just be the future of food and hospitality.
For more information on The Cupola, visit thecupola.uk.
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