In November 1985 the V&A opened the New Restaurant (as it was then known) in the vaulted brick basement of the Henry Cole Wing (which had been built as the School of Naval Architecture in 1871). The furniture was designed by Ronald Carter, who had been appointed a Royal Designer for Industry in 1971 for his furniture design. The New Restaurant later gained notoriety as the 'Ace caff with quite a nice museum attached' -- as it was promoted in a late-1980s advertisement for the V&A. Carter had originally designed this bench to be used outdoors at the International Garden Festival staged in Liverpool in 1984, but he never submitted the design to the organizers. Instead, the first time it was made was for the V&A, at a cost of £740 each. Five benches like this were specified for the foyer outside the restaurant, each with a low table. The same model was later used in Terminal 4 at Heathrow Airport.

The simple right-angular joinery of this furniture derives from Arts and Crafts traditions. Nothing is superfluous and there is little in the way of decoration, aside from the pierced holes in the back splats. A slight concave curve to the seat and back enliven the design. The furniture was particularly durable and remained in service in the New Restaurant until its closure in November 2006.