Banquette seating style guide
Five backs to start from. All dimensions are bespoke: every banquette is made to your length, height and layout.
Bolster Back Banquette
Horizontal bolster rolls run across the back, on a timber plinth. Made to your length and layout.
Deep Buttoned Banquette
A deep-buttoned back in fabric or leather, made to your length and layout.
Fluted Back Banquette
Vertical fluting across the back, the style chosen for The Vale at Silverstone and Farleigh Hospice.
Head Roll Banquette
A plain back topped with a padded head roll, made to your length and layout.
Plain Back Banquette
A clean, plain back and seat: the simplest banquette, made to any length and layout.
Looking for high-quality custom banquette seating? Our bespoke bench seating, also known as fixed seating, is made to order in our own workshops and tailored to any commercial space: restaurants, bars, cafés, hotels, clubs and more.
We offer a wide choice of styles, finishes and upholstery, from premium fabrics to hard-wearing commercial leathers, so your seating matches your brand and your interior.
No two venues are the same. Send us your CAD drawings or floor plans, or we can arrange a site visit, where one of our seating specialists will measure the space and discuss what you need.
Why venues choose us
- A dedicated account manager
- Every product on one order
- One delivery, on time, every time
- In-house interior design
- Bespoke manufacture, sampled first
- Two manufacturing units
- Showroom open seven days a week
- Aftercare from our Manchester team
Member of Commercial Interiors UK (formerly the BCFA) and the British Furniture Association
Discuss your banquettesOur bespoke seating projects
Every one of these banquettes was made to measure in our workshops, for the room it sits in.
Tailored to your venue
Every piece is made to order. With your dedicated account manager you choose the upholstery, the wood finish and the finishing touches, such as piping and studding, so each design can follow your aesthetic, your colour scheme or your brand and club colours. The result is furniture that is unique to your venue.
- Upholstery
- Wood finish
- Piping
- Studding
- Brand and club colours
Can’t find exactly what you’re looking for?
We appreciate that our brochures and online literature cannot always capture every requirement. If you have something specific in mind, we would welcome the opportunity to see if we can help. Simply share any guidance you have, such as images, design intent or links to any specific products or styles of interest, and our team will take it from there.
Through our established relationships with leading factories and suppliers across the UK and Europe, Forest Contract has access to an extensive range of products beyond those featured in our brochures. Whatever your vision, we are well placed to help you realise it.
Photography is for illustration only. On request, we can create visuals to show how a design would look in your chosen fabrics and finishes.
Banquette seating dimensions
Every banquette we make is made to measure, but most start from the same proportions. These are the sizes in our standard cross section.
Need a different height, for a poseur table or a taller back for privacy? See altered height and poseur in the option guide below.
Planned with diagrams and 3D
Where the small details matter, our team can produce a 2D cross section of your seating, giving its precise dimensions and specification.
We can also provide a 3D rendering from your floor plans, so you can see the finished seating in the room before it is made.
Deep-buttoned back
Plain back
Shapes and sizes to suit your venue
Our fixed seating doesn't stop at straight runs and square corners. We make curved corner booths, high-backed designs and shaped runs that follow a wall or a window, and we deliver and fit them nationwide.
At The Vale at Silverstone, two shaped banquettes follow the curve of the glazing; at Hotel Cromwell, red leather radius booths fill the main dining room.
Banquette seating option guide
Fixed seating, booth seating and bench seating
Fixed seating
Banquettes are a form of fixed seating: upholstered seating built into the room rather than moved around it. Fixed seating seats more covers along a wall than loose chairs, and stays where it should through a busy service.
Booth seating
A booth puts a back on both sides of the table, as two facing benches or a U shape, so each table feels private. Booths suit restaurants, diners and pubs, and can be made single-sided, back-to-back, curved or with a radius corner.
Bench seating
Bench seating is the simplest form: a long upholstered seat with or without a back, made to measure for a wall, a window or a bay. We make it to any length, in sections that fit through doors and up stairs.
Banquette seating for every venue
Bespoke banquette seating, made in the UK
Banquette seating, also called fixed seating, bench seating or booth seating, makes the most of a room: it seats more covers along a wall, defines areas within an open space and gives guests a comfortable place to stay.
Every banquette we make is built in our own workshops to your drawings or our survey, upholstered in fabrics and leathers graded A to E or your own, and made to meet BS 5852 (CRIB 5). We deliver and fit nationwide, and can bring the rest of your furniture on the same order.
Questions we are often asked
What is the standard height of banquette seating?
Our standard banquette has a seat height of 450 mm and an overall height of 900 mm, which suits dining tables of about 740 to 760 mm. For poseur tables we raise the seat, and for privacy between booths we can make the back taller.
How deep should a banquette seat be?
Our standard seat is 430 mm deep, measured from the front of the back cushion, within an overall depth of 600 mm. That keeps diners comfortably upright at the table; for lounge seating we make it deeper.
How much banquette seating does each person need?
Allow about 600 mm of seat length per person, and a little more for a relaxed dining room. A 2.4 m run seats four people comfortably. When we plan your seating, we work out the number of covers for your layout.
What is the difference between banquette seating and booth seating?
A banquette is a long upholstered bench, usually set against a wall, with loose chairs on the other side of the tables. A booth has a back on both sides of the table, as two facing benches or a U shape, so each table feels enclosed and private. We make both, and many venues mix the two.
Can a long banquette be made in sections?
Yes. Long runs are made in sections that fit through doors and up stairs, then fitted together on site. The 27 metres of seating at The Vale was made in seven pieces, and the banquette at Farleigh Hospice in six modules.
Do you measure and fit?
Yes. One of our seating specialists can visit to measure your space, and our team can install the finished seating.
Can you work from our drawings?
Yes. Send us your CAD drawings or floor plans. We can return a 2D cross section and a 3D rendering for your approval before anything is made.
Can banquettes include storage?
Yes. We can build storage under a removable seat.
Is your banquette seating fire-safe?
Yes. Every upholstered piece we supply meets BS 5852 (CRIB 5), the fire standard for contract seating in pubs, restaurants, hotels and other public venues.
What is fixed seating?
Fixed seating is upholstered seating built in place, such as banquettes, booths and wall benches, rather than loose chairs. It makes the best use of the walls and keeps a room's layout in order.
How much does banquette seating cost?
It depends on the length, the style of back, the upholstery and whether you need us to fit it. Send us your floor plan or the length you need and we will quote.
Can you make booth seating for a pub?
Yes. We make single and back-to-back booths, U-shaped and curved booths, and long benches for pubs, in leathers and fabrics that suit the building.