The no-knocker Roma Chair: a plain back, measured honestly

Most of the Roma chairs carry a knocker on the back. This one does not, and that is the whole point of it. The Roma Chair (No Knocker/Chrome Legs) is listed at 64 x 56 x 97cm with a velvet covering, a hexagonal stitched back and chrome legs, in dark grey. The listing describes the absence of the knocker as giving a clean, uninterrupted silhouette, and in a real room there are practical reasons to want that as well as visual ones.

The figures, exactly as listed

Read the figures as 64cm wide, 56cm deep and 97cm overall. They are not labelled on the page and no seat height is given, so ask for the seat height if the chair has to tuck under a table with a deep frame.

When the plain back is the right choice

• The backs face a wall. A knocker is a hard fitting that sits proud of the upholstery. Where chairs get pushed back against plaster or a radiator, a flat back is simply less trouble.
• You are cleaning round it weekly. Any applied detail on upholstery is an edge for dust to sit against.
• The room already has enough going on. The hexagonal stitching is still there, so the back is not blank; it is pattern without hardware.
• Children lean on chair backs. There is nothing to catch a sleeve or a hand.

The argument the other way is just as simple: if your table sits away from the wall and the backs are the first thing anyone sees, the knocker is the detail you are paying for. Both versions are on the Dining Chairs page to compare.

One finish, and a question worth asking

The description names Dark Grey, and the product page offers no finish choice at all for this version, unlike its relatives. If you want the plain back in one of the other Roma colours, that is a question for the shop rather than something the page can answer. Nothing on the listing says the other finishes are available without a knocker.

64cm wide: how many places you get

Behind the table, allow about the 56cm depth again so a chair can be pushed back and somebody can stand, and nearer a metre where anyone has to walk past an occupied seat. At 97cm the back stands well above most table tops, so check what sits on the wall at that height before you decide where the table goes.

The rest of the Roma family

Same shell, same listed size, different covering and back. The Roma Chair (Lion Knocker/Chrome Legs) is the shimmer velvet version with the knocker and three finishes. The Roma PU Chair (Ring Knocker/Chrome Legs) swaps velvet for a coated polyurethane, which is the version to look at for a table that takes daily family meals. The G-Roma Chair (Lion Knocker/Gold Legs) puts the same back on gold legs.

What the listing does not state

• Seat height, seat width and seat depth.
• Frame material and filling.
• Velvet composition and any cleaning code.
• Any weight limit.
• Whether the chair arrives built, and whether it is supplied singly or in pairs.

Delivery is free within 50 miles of our Glasgow store and £50 beyond. Measure your table edge and the clearance behind it, then order the Roma Chair (No Knocker/Chrome Legs) once you know how many places you have.