Placemats and Tablemats

Cork backed placemats and Pimpernel placemats

Traditional style tablemats

Complete range of traditional cork backed placemats from the leading place mat brands including Pimpernel, Plymouth Pottery and Lady Clare. These cork backed tablemats have a hardboard centre and the heat-treated surface is either a melamine or hard lacquer. The base of the place mats has a soft cork backing which will protect your dining table. The cork backed range includes a wide variety of different patterns to cater for every dining room or kitchen. Choose from a range which includes floral themes, animal designs, slate tablemats or contemporary modern placemats designs.

Traditional cork backed Pimpernel placemats

Pimpernel, from Stoke on Trent, has been making stylish cork backed placemats and coasters for over 80 years and is a brand leader in both placemat design and product quality. Pimpernel placemats are heat, stain and scuff resistant and are a perfect choice for everyday use. They are also ideal for adding a touch of style to a formal dinner party. Pimpernel have a wide range of designs to select from, both traditional floral and landscape patterns to contemporary modern placemats. From the regular, standard size tablemats as sets of six, to the larger Continental size mats packed as sets of four, with cork backed coasters in sets of six, all with a selection of patterns from classic to funky placemats designs.

Melamine Placemats

Durable, made in the UK

British made melamine placemats have a very high heat resistance of greater than 140C and are suitable for restaurant or catering environments where a harder wearing surface is needed. Also ideal for domestic settings where these melamine tablemats will last for many years. Usually the base is cork backed, but some mats are available with a soft felt backing. A wide range of melamine placemat designs including the William Morris Fruit tablemats are available from Castle Melamine and a traditional single colour range from Plymouth Pottery, in blue, black, claret, green and cream colours specifically designed for the catering industry.

Cork backed placemats with animal designs

Animal themes are a popular feature of placemat design and we carry a wide range of animal designs from Plymouth Pottery, Lady Clare, Emma Ball and Pimpernel, including the popular Wrendale tablemats range. The bestselling Plymouth Pottery Hungry Cats tablemats are also available to buy as a cork backed placemat, along with matching cork backed coasters. Many bird placemats sets also appear frequently in the range, such as the Lady Clare Gould Ducks design. Animal placemats are typically found as options in the melamine or hard lacquer tablemats sets produced by all of the leading manufacturers.

Buying a set of table mats

Finding the right design and the appropriate material for your perfect choice of place mat is not as easy as it sounds, with various patterns and every colour under the sun to choose from. You also do not want to be buying a set of table mats too often, so it’s worth spending time to discover the ideal design you like – as well as being well made to protect your dining-table. Often the expensive purchase at first glance turns out to be the best value for money and this can be applied to table mats and practical tablewares in general. Our generous 30 day return policy allows you to buy placemats with confidence, particularly useful if the colour tones are not quite what you hoped for when they are actually laid out in your dining room.

Large size Lady Clare and Pimpernel placemats

Continental style large placemats, cork backed table mats from Pimpernel and Lady Clare. These oversize tablemats measure around 40 x 30 cm in size and are typically bought as sets of four. This is the usual size found in dining rooms in Europe and the USA. Most of the Lady Clare or Pimpernel large placemats designs are generally also available to purchase in the regular UK size of cork backed tablemats. The large size can also be used as table centres. A typical example of these large mats is the popular Pimpernel Dancing Branches set of four tablemats.

Heat resistant placemats

Protecting your dining table from damage caused by hot dinner plates is the principal reason for buying heat resistant placemats, UK sized versions are available in various designs and colours. Typically heat proof cork placemats available on our site will handle temperatures from 100°C to 140°C, depending on if the top surface of the mat is a standard lacquer or made of the more robust melamine. This protects against most dining situations, it is generally not advisable to put pans taken directly from the oven onto the mats, as these will likely be initially over 200°C. The cork or felt backed base is the key to preventing any damage from scuffs or scratches.

The future trend of place mats

The place mats traditionally used in Europe and the USA are considerably larger than the UK at around 40cm x 30cm and may become the size of place mats in the future. This extra size allows for the, usually single fork and knife, to be placed alongside the dinner plate and also leaves enough space for the diner’s glass to be included on the tablemat. To many people putting all the utensils on one place mat will seem like it's creating a cramped situation, something that will not allow enough space and which is bound to lead to drinks glasses etc being knocked over. However using this large size of place mats is becoming a trend, suggesting that the kitchens and dining rooms around the UK are nowadays seeing fewer courses at mealtimes.

UK sized place mats

Not every country uses the same size place mats. For traditional or cultural reasons, the UK and other English speaking countries such as Australia and New Zealand have always favoured the 30cm x 23cm size classic placemats and coasters. These are more often than not accompanied by square drinks coasters with the idea being that the placemat nicely holds only the dinner plate, with the wine or water glass being placed separately on the coaster and cutlery laid directly on the tablecloth or tabletop. The tradition of cutlery kept separate from place mats has its roots in the formal dining rooms of an earlier era where numerous knives and forks for each dinner service would used, often be three of each. The practicalities of maintaining that amount of cutlery on a single placemat, in addition to a large dinner plate were too great. This lead to just focus on preventing the hot plates from damaging the dining table and the various utensils spread out alongside the main place setting on a tablecloth. This is the primary reason why UK place mats are the size they are.