Flats plan could mean ‘imminent’ closure of venue
POPULAR Cardiff music venue Tramshed has warned it could be forced to close over a longrunning planning row.
The spot in Grangetown said the coronavirus pandemic combined with plans for an overlooking development “may cause it to imminently close”.
Tramshed said plans for a new flats development behind the venue could cause massive problems for the successful business.
It said the plans would impact on access to the car park, which is used daily for events, for artists’ tour buses and for trucks filled with music equipment.
The music venue said it “greatly respects” the work DS Holdings, its landlord, has done across south Wales, but is now calling for people to object to the plans. Amended plans were submitted to Cardiff council on May 28 and have prompted dozens of objections.
In a widely shared Facebook statement since the latest plans, Tramshed said: “We engaged with DS Holdings to provide the guarantees that we need from this development to ensure we can continue to trade successfully and not to create issues for us and the Grangetown community.
“Unfortunately we have not been able to obtain them so have no option but to object to the development and encourage others to do so to protect Tramshed.”
The post says the plans “severely jeopardise its future and may cause it to imminently close”.
The plans have been around for the last three years and the latest proposal would include 16 work-live apartments and 3,000 sq ft of office and business space.
Caroline Archer, Tramshed’s general manager, said: “Not only has Tramshed become a significant presence in Cardiff’s music scene and local community, it has provided jobs for hundreds of people including bar staff and sound technicians. We pride ourselves on providing a safe environment for people from all sections of the music community to enjoy their favourite bands.
“We need a planning system that works fairly, not by kicking us when we are already down due to the Covid-19 lockdown. We think music venues will also be important in bringing people back together after lockdown ends and hope that with the support of the community and the media, there will be a catalyst to create positive action from the developer and the council.”
Until 2015 The Tramshed was a derelict shell of a building a stone’s throw from the city centre. But the centuryold Grade II-listed building was given a new lease of life as a gig venue.
Since it opened it has become a hugely successful and popular gig venue, office space, and yoga studio which has breathed new life into a formerly rundown building.
Tramshed said every year about 200,000 people visit, with the venue providing about 300 jobs.
Labour Grangetown councillors Ash Lister and Lynda Thorne have also come out against the plans and launched a petition.
They said: “It is our view that the plans are still an overdevelopment of the site which will be of detriment to our community.
“We also still have concerns over the access to the site and the impact the development will have on traffic in an already busy area. We will be submitting a detailed objection to the plans.”
The developer, DS Holdings, has previously said this new development would create jobs and that the suggestion of flats is reaction from “Welsh Government and what Cardiff council want”.
In 2019 Simon Baston, managing director of DS Properties, said the Tramshed had created more than 300 jobs and the new development could create up to 150 more.
Mr Baston said the new development would cater for a growing demand from people needing shortterm accommodation.
Mr Baston has been approached for comment.