Merchant Gate in Wakefield is not a retail park. It is a development that carries genuine architectural ambition, and when the Rassam team first walked the available unit, the numbers were almost intimidating. Five thousand four hundred and sixty eight square feet. Ceiling height that gave real breathing room. A site that demanded a response equal to its own scale.
Building the Room
The design brief was straightforward in its ambition and complex in its execution: create a space that felt like a destination, not just a restaurant. Three hundred seats had to feel sociable rather than canteen. The answer was to break the floor plan into zones — family sections, booth seating, a counter bar, and a dedicated events area — each with its own feel but all sharing the Rassam visual language.
“Three hundred seats and it still feels full. That is the best design compliment anyone has ever given us.”
Carpigiani and IFI
The equipment choices were deliberate. Carpigiani machines, the Italian gold standard for gelato production, went into the production kitchen. IFI counters, with their museum quality glass and precision temperature control, became the front of house showpiece. Together they meant Wakefield could produce and display at a level that most standalone gelaterias never reach.
Fifty Plus Mocktails
The decision to build a mocktail menu of more than fifty serves was, in retrospect, the detail that surprised people most. Rassam has always been a fully halal environment, which means no alcohol anywhere in the operation. Rather than treating that as a constraint, Wakefield leaned into it: the mocktail menu is extensive, creative, and seasonal, with builds that take as much skill and time as anything you would find in a good cocktail bar.
Wakefield opened in August 2021, in a year when hospitality was fragile and footfall was uncertain. It filled from day one. The queue stretched across the development on launch weekend. The house Wakefield built turned out to be exactly the size it needed to be.
