The bar furniture market in the UK is seeing more and more modern styles being offered each year as many licensees choose to give the interior of their bar a lighter and hopefully more inviting aspect. Chromed tubular steel is very popular now, looking particularly attractive upholstered in leather or patterned dralon or flat weave fabric. Classic sofa designs, for example Le Corbusiers' 'Petit Confort' sofa which offers outstanding comfort combined with a strikingly attractive appearance when upholstered in black or red leather. These offer maximum impact when a number of single, two or three seater pub chairs are combined to utilize the bar space available and ideal combined with glass topped or modern wooden coffee tables. Of course fully upholstered sofas are popular especially in full leather to give the bar a relaxed ambience that encourages customers to stay, and of course spend more money on food and drink. As sofas take up more space than other forms of bar furniture, the proprietor can add chairs or bar stools into the plan to utilize the space available and accommodate more customers. Cube stools go particularly well with the leather sofas and can be upholstered in the same leather or a contrasting colour to add some variety and interest to the whole design. The choice of modern tall bar stools is extensive too, from a simple square chrome with square leather upholstered seat or more complex tubular pedestal bar stools with gas lift cushioning to give the customer extra comfort.

Traditional bar furniture is still dominated by the old 'Colonial' designs of chair, for example the 'Mates' and 'Captains' chairs with the Windsor and Wheelback chairs still being very popular. The Windsor chair has a history dating back to the 18th Century. Not surprisingly the first Windsor chairs were reputed to have been made in Windsor and developed from simply adding a few back spindles and a top rail to a regular joined wooden stool and gradually developed to the Windsor chair with sweeping curved back and decorative central supporting splat that is recognised as the classic design. The most favoured traditional bar stool design is certainly the 'Tudor' stool, a replication of the simple joined wooden stool and church pews dating back to the Medieval period. In the last three decades these pub chairs and bar stools have been most popular finished in dark oak colour although recently lighter shades in walnut finish or light oak have been more often chosen to brighten up the bar area. These bar chairs and bar stools are often required upholstered and the supplier can offer a huge choice of fabric to suit the proprietors? interior design.

Since new regulations were made law in 1988 (The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) regulations 1988) it is very important when purchasing new bar furniture that the correct certification to show that the fabric used has been treated for fire retardancy and that any foam fillings are made of combustion modified foam. The supplier of the bar furniture will be able to supply these. Bar stools are available at bar height to either stand by the bar or to stand alongside tall tables (poseur tables) designed specifically for drinking at rather than for dining. Poseur tables can have single pedestals with one or two table tops at different heights which take up little space and look very attractive when set in a room with other regular height bar furniture. The single poseur tables are available either in turned wood or decorative cast iron. They can also be found with rectangular tops either on a double pedestal base or a conventional four legged base, this size being more suited to a larger bar, where space saving is not such an issue. The most popular traditional bar stools for these tables are either the backless 'Tudor' bar stools with decorative turned legs or the 'Captains' bar stools based on 19th century colonial furniture.

In modern designs the wooden 'Shaker' style stools with simple square legs are often chosen. These can be bought as a simple backless stool with or without upholstery or with a backrest with either vertical or horizontal wooden slats. Recently tubular steel tall bar stools have become a popular choice, either in powder coated paint finish or chrome plated. These give great strength at a lower price than their wooden counterparts and give a very clean modern look when used with bar chairs in similar designs.