Telegraph readers review the new £2.6m Downing Street press room: 'Where's the Cool Britannia?'

Britain was introduced to Downing Street’s new press room on Monday as Boris Johnson led the first coronavirus briefing in the recently refurbished space.

The refurbishments for the televised press conferences cost £2.6 million, prompting fresh questions over the use of taxpayers’ money. Writing in the Telegraph, Michael Deacon declared that the decor looks cheap and lacks the sophistication, elegance or sense of history of the old room.

Is the new press room an improvement, or a misuse of funds? Telegraph readers are no strangers to an honest and frank opinion and they’ve not held back in their assessments of the latest Downing Street refurbishment. Read on for the best discussion points from our readers and share your own view in the comments section at the bottom of this article.

'Sack the designer'

@Adam Slaughter:

"Sack the designer. This is no reflection of the ornate rooms that are befitting of the briefing’s importance. It is almost as if it has been lifted from a well-known hotel chain that rents out its rooms for presentations. Very poor from the government."

'It is much cleaner looking than the old room'

@Yony Kaminskyj:

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with the new room. It looks functional and most importantly, there seems to be more room for journalists. It is also much cleaner looking than the old room."

'A sad attempt at gravitas and ostentation'

@Arty Gentileschi:

"Tasteless, vulgar and cheap. It deserves to be called out and mocked for what it is – a sad attempt at gravitas and ostentation."

'Couldn’t we have done something more ‘Cool Britannia’?'

@Andrew Schofield:

"I could have done all that with a couple of noughts knocked off the end. It is also a poor choice of font for the lecterns – dated and styleless.

"But my main beef is that it's aping the White House. Couldn't we have done something more 'Cool Britannia' for our new independent nation?"

'Any other country can do this look, and many do'

@Anna Burton:

"What's this going to cost the NHS in vision problems? It literally hurts to look at. Good thing those lecterns say 'Downing Street' and the flags are Union ones otherwise I'd think it was America. This is so embarrassing. The old room was lovely, there was absolutely no need to change it.

"Please don't think I'm denigrating our flag, which I love and would gladly die for. But so many other things represent our nation as well and the quiet, nothing-to-prove look of the old room was one of them. Something only we can do. Any other country can do this look, and many do. The flags look really cheap and synthetic as well which I find disrespectful.

"I'm truly sorry if I've offended anyone who likes the new decor. But we fought so hard to get out of the EU and now we've given up something uniquely English at a price we can't afford."

'Replace the blue background with wood panelling'

@Andrew Kevill:

"That blue background has got to go. Get it replaced with some wood panelling made from native trees from the four nations. Put it out to tender and pick a top-level cabinet maker as opposed to a firm. He will produce real craftsmanship for a few thousand.

"In any event, once another party forms the government it will want to change the colour to its party colour, as blue is identified with the Conservatives."

'An understated, functional and perfectly adequate press centre'

@Brian Nesbitt-Clarke:

"All of a sudden we're interior design consultants. Now we are no longer economists during Brexit and or epidemiologists during Covid we turn our hand to trashing an understated, functional and perfectly adequate press centre merely because the flags don't have an elegant plinth. No doubt the detractors here would have been just as noisy if it had been presented in Baroque, Rococo or minimalist Scandinavian style.

"I have no doubt much of the expense would have been in providing the attendant press corps with an effective, adequate and secure communication system."

'That sum would build a great many houses'

@Jan Goff:

"How can this sum of money have been spent on one room? It might seem like a drop in the ocean compared to the vast sums spent on the pandemic but to put it into context that would build a great many houses."

'I’m a big fan of the flags'

@Ron Thompson:

"It looks like a school hall stage with blue felt nailed on the wall. Even charging one million would have been eye-wateringly expensive for that.

"I'm a big fan of the flags, though."

'It looks totally temporary'

@Julie Arnison

"Rather dreadful, cheap (in appearance at least) and a nasty dated design. Very lacklustre and it all looks totally temporary, including the "pulpit lecterns". Even the flags are on freestanding pedestals so it all resembles something quickly jammed together like the sort of temporary stuff you get at exhibitions. Surely it didn't cost all that massive amount?"

'Replace the blazing blue with wood panelling'

@Leah Galbraith:

"It's so identical to the background Biden speaks in front of, not to mention the crest on the podium, it almost looks like parody. I'll give my next vote to the first party who promises to rip out the blazing blue and replace it with soothing wood panelling. And I realise politicians don't like journalists but surely they could have given them more comfy-looking chairs."

'It’s a bargain for the workings of the system'

@Nicholas Barrett:

"Nearly all of the money in a media studio is spent on the computerised innards of the system and the endless wires which squirm unseen under the floors to bring the pictures of Boris Johnson into our living rooms.

"It's a bargain, given that the workings of the system have to be faultless and not apt to break down."

'There was a sense of history and purpose in the old room'

@Matthew Burdett:

"I suppose they decided to carve the letters into the lectern so they couldn’t fall off. Honestly, the other room was far better. There was a sense of history and purpose in the old room that this just doesn’t allow for."

'It gives the impression that we are a country of substance'

@Geoffrey Bell:

"I think it looks great, the striking blue backdrop with two huge Union Flags either side of the lectern. It gives the impression of a Prime Minister who is proud of his country and that we are a country of substance. No longer made to feel ashamed to be British, but proud to be British which the silent majority in this country most definitely is."

'The wood doesn’t match and the colours clash'

@Alan Hope:

"The wood, on the door and panels, doesn’t even begin to match. The blue on the walls clashes horribly. Why did they use an obviously colour-blind designer?"

'A new carpet and job done'

@Susan Lundie:

"My goodness! Surely someone could have mentioned a slightly more subtle blue would be kinder on the nation's tele-worn eyes.

"The wood panelling in the old room had class. A new carpet and it would have been job done."

'The flags look garish and out of place'

@Joseph Taylor:

"The whole point of flags is that they are flown outside, isn't it? The giant flags that flank the Prime Minister look garish and out of place. The fact that the government feels the need to remind people of their loyalties is a bit of an over compensation, but then do any of us really know what Britishness stands for any more?"

'The old room was hideous'

@Andrew North:

"The old room was hideous – all those doors and panels and that tatty carpet; this one is better, if a little garish but I don't suppose Boris Johnson is known for his good taste."

Now it's your turn. Let us know what you think of the new Downing Street press room in the comments section below.