Rough Trade

Leading independent music retailer Rough Trade has expanded its national footprint by opening its sixth and largest UK location in Liverpool. The 6500 square foot store, located on the city’s Hanover Street, provides a new addition to the Rough Trade offering - a dedicated venue space for exclusive live performances.

The new store is set over two floors, with the brand’s infamous record store and cafe on the ground floor, while the venue space occupies the first floor. The venue space has a capacity to host 290 people, and is also home to a fully functioning bar.

Architects R2A were tasked with creating the design for the new store, working closely with trusted supplier Light Forms to meet the brief for the striking lighting scheme. The aim was to create a cool but functional lighting design, providing a beautifully lit space with well-lit displays that also creates dramatic impact.

The lighting effect was achieved by using a thoughtful mixture of track and spot lighting, utilising long linear feature tubes and perimeter RGBW lighting. A range of Light Forms fixtures were used to achieve this design, including Lightrod 80 cylindrical tubes to distribute even light all around for 360 degrees of illumination, Nova62 track spots which maintain a minimal design to blend seamlessly into the overall space, and LP1 Recessed Flat Trim & LP2.5 which provides minimal linear lighting in a discreet application.

As the lighting needs to be suitable for retail, cafe and venue applications, Light Forms supplied a range of fixtures that are adaptable and flexible, to meet ever-changing needs within the space. The range of lighting layers harmoniously spotlights products on the shelves, drawing the customer’s eye to vinyls and merchandise from independent artists and labels. The colour changing spotlights perfectly set the stage for the live performances, ensuring a dynamic display for all types of performers while maintaining an intimate atmosphere.

Lawrence Montgomery, Managing Director at Rough Trade, said, “We have been so thrilled to expand Rough Trade into Liverpool, which is a fantastic city known for its musical heritage. The modern, minimalist design from R2A reflects our brand ethos and ensures that the space focuses purely on the music, while the dimmed and dramatic lighting from Light Forms has a powerful impact in setting the stage. The design allows the location to transform from a store into a premium music performance stage, meeting our aim of Rough Trade Liverpool becoming a central hub for music fans.”

Paul Shoosmith, Director at Light Forms, added, “Light Forms was excited to be part of such a groundbreaking project with Rough Trade, finding new ways to bring live music to Liverpool’s cultural scene. It was an interesting challenge for us to provide lighting solutions that met all the different needs and requirements of the space, and we are proud that our versatile and innovative luminaires were able to create a vibrant retail experience alongside an intimate performance space.”