The George Pub, Wraysbury UK
The George at Wraysbury represents a real slice of English heritage, wedged neatly on the perimeter of the M25 motorway, it is a Grade II Listed building dating back to the 14th Century. The George has recently undergone a sympathetic renovation to represent a new independent venture for established restaurateur Ben Smith.
Transformed into a gastro-led venue providing modern quality and comfort, The George retains its unique historical charm and proved again to be a real hub of the local community during recent flooding in the local area as Ben and his team provided respite, bacon sandwiches and coffee mornings for those in need.
The Boxers Barn, a building attached to the rear of The George Bar, was set up as the training camp for Sir Henry Cooper as he prepared for his legendary fights with boxing legend Muhammad Ali. Now renovated and available for private dining, private functions, conferences and weddings, the Boxers Barn has been transformed into an elegant function space that really offers some unique history.
When considering the audio requirements for the venue, Ben Smith was presented with quite a challenge. The audio system at The George needs to be discreet and high quality but easy for staff to operate. It also needs to provide sound in five separate zones of the building, including the Boxers Barn, which needs to be controlled independently or as one, if required.
Ben Smith commented ‘We called in Chris from CGA Integration as we had worked together at other venues. I knew CGA would take care and be sympathetic to the listed building The George represents’.
CGA proceeded to design and specify a system around the new Cloud DCM-1e Ethernet Zone Mixer alongside a Cloud VTX-4120 4-Channel Amplifier and Cloud CX-A850 8-Channel Amplifier connected to a number of EV loudspeakers in each zone.
‘We wanted the system to be fully flexible with an element of future proofing’ added Chris Gunton, Managing Director of CGA Integration. Although the system at The George is currently five zones, the Cloud DCM-1e has the capacity to control a further three-zones. It is possible Ben will want to provide some background audio in the garden/patio areas in the future and the system CGA has installed makes this relatively easy to do’.
The Cloud DCM-1e Ethernet Zone Mixer is connected to the IT network at the venue which allows the management team at The George to control the audio system simply via their own Apple/Android devices as they move throughout restaurant and bar areas. In addition a number of hardwired Cloud CDR-1 Wall Control Plates allow the team to manage the system from behind the bar.
The LE-1 Input plate, located in the Boxers Barn and connected to the DCM-1e allows users of the Barn to plug in their own audio source i.e. Music Player, DJ etc direct to the installed system and have localised control and a Cloud PM-4 Paging Mic allows full or individual zone paging.
Ben Smith summarised ‘I asked for a flexible and user-friendly audio system that matches the quality, reliability and consistency The George provides in other areas of the customer experience. I am very pleased with the result, as are our customers too’.