35-storey tower could replace music venue
THE building which is home to popular pub and music venue Porter’s in Cardiff city centre could be knocked down for a 35-storey apartment tower.
Developers want to demolish Harlech Court, on Bute Terrace, to build what would be the tallest building in Wales. The Draycott Group bought the building in May 2018, and is now planning to knock it down and build 350 apartments on the site, according to the group’s website.
Plans are still in the early stage, few details are available so far, and the developers haven’t yet applied for planning permission.
The Draycott Group is also behind several recent developments in Cardiff, including luxury townhouses the Rise in Pontcanna; student flats City Heights on City Road; and student accommodation Cyprian House in Cathays.
Porter’s said its lease runs out in October next year, and is calling for help to find a new venue. Draycott declined to comment.
As well as live music, Porter’s also regularly puts on theatre and comedy nights, before the coronavirus pandemic.
The website for the Draycott Group said: “Draycott has engaged the services of consultants to submit a full planning application for the demolition and redevelopment of the office block into a 350-apartment build-to-rent scheme.
“The construction of the 35-storey tower will make it Wales’ tallest building.” Currently the tallest building in Wales is the Meridian Tower in Swansea, with 29 storeys.
Porter’s lease at Harlech Court runs out in October next year, according to the pub’s Facebook page. The pub called for help from Cardiff council in finding a new building, and said Draycott had been a “decent and supportive” landlord.
The Facebook post said: “Our lease at Harlech Court runs until October 23, 2022. If that’s when we say goodbye, then so be it. It’s been a blast, but we do of course hope that between us we can find a new building to call home.
“We would naturally welcome any suggestions of possible buildings from our friends.”
Less than five minutes walk away, another popular music venue and bar, Gwdihw, was recently demolished, along with two restaurants on Guildford Crescent. Plans were last week revealed to build a 29-storey apartment tower there.
WALES can look forward to “more positive days and weeks ahead” following signs that the worst of the second wave of coronavirus has passed, the First Minister has said.
Mark Drakeford said the improving public health situation opened up the possibility of restoring “other freedoms” at next week’s review of restrictions to go alongside the return to schools for all primary pupils.
He said he was “optimistic” that he will soon be able to lift the stay-at -home restrictions in place in Wales.
And he also suggested the Welsh hospitality sector, including pubs and restaurants, could reopen at a similar time to other UK countries later in the spring.
Yesterday, the Welsh Labour leader pointed to signs that the worst of the second wave had now passed, including more than 100,000 people – more than 3% of the country – having received two doses of the vaccine.
The seven-day incidence rate of coronavirus across Wales has fallen to 64 cases per 100,000 people, with the rate below 100 cases per 100,000 people in every part of the country.
And its R rate remains below 1, with the total number of coronavirusrelated patients in hospital below 1,500.
Mr Drakeford told the Welsh Government’s press briefing in Cardiff the figures showed a “rapid decline in the circulation of the virus here in Wales”.
“All of these are encouraging signs that the worst of the second wave is hopefully behind us and we can look forward together with confidence to more positive days and weeks ahead of us,” Mr Drakeford said.
But the First Minister said despite the promising figures “people are dying still, every day” because of the virus, as he asked for reflection for those who have passed away across the country as it marked St David’s Day.
Asked if the improving picture had created additional headroom to send children back to school sooner or ease restrictions further, Mr Drakeford said it was a “balancing act” between restoring freedoms and protecting public health.
But he added: “On Friday of next week I hope to be standing here still with things improving, still with headroom to do more, bringing more children back to school, thinking what other freedoms we can restore.”
Mr Drakeford has previously said he wanted to lift the stay at home rule at the next review on March 12 but has also indicated that it would depend on whether the Kent variant has an impact on the infection rate following schools reopening last week.
When asked yesterday by the Echo whether he was considering bringing back the “five-mile rule” (which requires people to stay within five miles of their home) the First Minister confirmed he was.
“I said a week last Friday that I hoped that this would be the last three weeks of the stay at home instruction,” he said.
“So we are certainly considering what we would hope to put in place and a stay local period is certainly one of the options that we have but we are working our way through these options this week into next week.
“If in 10 days’ time rates have continued to fall then I am optimistic that the stay at home level of restrictions may begin to be eased.”
Meanwhile, Mr Drakeford said he would provide a return date for @WalesOnline hospitality venues “as soon as the public health position is safe enough for us to do so”, and that when one is given “it will be a reliable date, and one that people will be able to act on”.
But he said the timetable for doing so would “not be very different” to elsewhere in the UK, with Boris Johnson having announced businesses in England could offer outdoor service from April 12 at the earliest and indoor service from May 17.
Mr Drakeford said the Welsh Government’s priorities over the next round of reviews were schools and the reopening of some non-essential retail, followed by the reopening of self-contained accommodation for the Easter period.
“Those will be the major milestones in the next two reviews. And if all of that is done safely, and if the numbers in Wales continue to improve, then we will look for the reopening of other sectors, and that will of course include hospitality,” he said.
“If we do that, then in practical terms, the timetable will not be very different in Wales to anywhere else. But the public health protection of people will have to be our first concern.”