Neil Tibbatts

Neil Tibbatts

29 JULY 2006

INNOVATIVE DESIGNER WITH UNPARALLELED INFLUENCE

UPFRONT, news, SEPTEMBER 2006, COMMENTS

Neil Tibbatts, founder of design and architecture firm Tibbatts Associates, died suddenly on 28 July of a stroke. Neil, who was born and worked in Birmingham, had been a familiar industry figure since setting up Tibbatts Associates in 1979. The talented and prolific designer made his name with ground breaking nightclub projects before moving on to explore projects in the bar, leisure, hotel and retail sectors. But more than through the venues he created, Neil’s legacy will also be that his company has provided a breeding ground for design talent, with many of the UK’s best interior designers serving early apprenticeships under his watchful eye.

Peter Shacklady was one of those apprentices, working at Tibbatts Associates from 1985 - 1993.

“I was considering two jobs when I went for the interview,” he remembers. “One in retail and one in leisure. But Neil sold me on leisure. He was a very good, supportive boss. He and the other directors helped cultivate good business and design-orientated people. If you were willing to work hard they were good to you. I always really enjoyed his company.”

This appreciation of Neil’s company was shared by others within the firm.

“You could have disagreements with Neil, within the office, on policy or projects, but five minutes later he would invite you for a drink after work, where you could discuss everything, from projects happening in the office to the meaning of life, or the latest antics of his beloved two golden retriever dogs,” says co-director Karen Upton, who worked with Neil for 20 years (pictured together over the page at Tibbatts’ Christmas party).

Neil had a huge impact not just on his staff, but on the wider community. “In an industry not short of larger than life personalities, Neil could hold his own amongst the best of them,” remembers Tony Marshall, who was first a client of Neil’s and over the years became a friend.

“The first time I became aware of Neil was through Liberties in Birmingham, which was ground breaking stuff for the club industry,” he recalls. “He had used decor and products that hadn’t been used in clubs before: things like steel and glass that later became ubiquitous. He presented a club in the Stringfellow mould before Stringfellow came along. It was obvious to everyone in the industry that this was a new direction for the future.”

Impressed by Neil’s work, Tony had set up a meeting between Neil and his bosses to look at the redevelopment of The Powerhouse in Birmingham.

“The meeting was memorable for one reason - he told the Chief Executive he probably couldn’t afford him! That was typical of Neil’s style as young man. Because of his early successes he was brimming over with confidence.

“We parted company for a while, but we linked up again about three years later when he was happy to talk more seriously about the big projects that Mecca wanted to do.”

What characterised Neil’s approach to work was the depth of his involvement. He was an intelligent designer who understood the marketplace, taking a brief and interpreting it in a way that suited consumer demand - whilst retaining his adventurous spirit.

“He helped resurrect Mecca, moving it out of the old ballroom era and launching it into a nightclub company,” says Tony. “He was a real catalyst in modernising the business. Neil really moved those clubs into a new realm, and he did that wonderfully.”

As well as working on numerous nightclub projects, Neil also turned his hand to bars, hotels, restaurants, health clubs, hotels and even bingo halls too. In the late 90s, he decided to use the operational understanding that had informed and made successes of his adventurous design schemes in creating his own venue. In 1999 Neil opened The Jam House in Birmingham, bringing Jools Holland on board as musical director and ambassador for this popular live music venue - which under Luminar’s ownership remains successful today.

“Neil was a prolific designer and eminently suited to the club, bar and restaurant industry because he loved food and drink himself and understood it as a consumer, not just as a designer,” says Tony Marshall.

One other person with fond memories of nights out on the town with Neil is Aidan Keane, who after working with Neil on several projects accompanied him on a fact-finding trip to America in the lead-up to the Jam House’s opening.

“It was almost like Neil viewed what we were doing as next generation coming through,” Aidan remembers, then an up-and-coming Birmingham designer. “He would pass on experience but he also want to talk about your thinking. Neil was genuinely interested in all new things - he was intrigued to know what the new things were, how much or how little it had changed.”

Neil’s influence on Aidan was a positive one.

“Neil was always willing to offer advice - which makes him sound a bit worthy but he was more than that, he was a fucking great guy to know, to go out for a beer with, to sit and chin wag over a meal with,” he says. “It sounds corny but Neil was a real bon vivour. He could be cantankerous, rude and occasionally drunk, but he was genetically talented and charismatic. Neil started at a time when charisma counted - and that’s why he flourished. You don’t get to do what Neil did in his life without having charisma - and with the industry becoming more corporate, charisma is becoming a rare thing, which makes his death even more poignant.”

Since working on the Jam House, Neil had been involved with a range of projects - the most high profile of which was arguably the Birmingham boutique hotel, NiteNite, which launched this year. With bijou bedrooms created out of cherry wood and leather to emulate the feel of a cabin on a luxury yacht, the project was far from the huge nightclub venues he had designed in his earlier career. Yet the venture was carried off with the Neil’s trademark forward thinking approach, and Neil’s innovative approach has won the venture (pictured right) widespread praise.

“To be remembered as a designer of clubs wouldn’t do Neil justice - he was also a deep-thinking, spiritual, good guy, who enjoyed fun, but has a serious side to him too,” remembers Aidan. “There was nothing I enjoyed more than a day or night out with Neil, eating, drinking, arguing and putting the world to rights. He will be missed than more than he knows.”

From: September 2006 Issue

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