Luxury hotel plan at city restaurant
A POPULAR Cardiff city-centre restaurant has revealed plans to open a boutique hotel.
The team behind Asador 44 on Quay Street want to turn currently empty floors above their restaurant into a luxury hotel.
The plans would see the first and second floor above the restaurant become a small hotel and would include nine rooms, a guest lounge and a guest rooftop terrace.
The owners, the Bar 44 group, said: “We notice there is a shortage of hotel bedrooms in the city centre, especially of the boutique-style we are going for.”
They added the concept behind the hotel is a Spanish “Parador”, which is a luxury hotel usually located in a converted historic building with a restaurant attached.
Planning permission has yet to be granted but the owners said they hope to “get going as soon as possible.”
As well as the change of use, the existing windows will be replaced and upgraded on the first and second floors.
The currently vacant floors were once a function room and further bars and restaurant.
One of the planning documents states: “The applicants currently operate the existing ground-floor restaurant Asador 44 and wish to extend the Spanish-influenced business by developing the currently vacant and underutilised first and second floor, creating nine en-suite boutique bedrooms, a guest lounge and guest rooftop terrace.
“The applicant has vast experience within the leisure and hospitality sector, also operating Bar 44 in Cardiff, Bristol, Penarth and Cowbridge.”
Cardiff council planning officials will now consider the plans, which were submitted on March 22.
It comes after Bar 44 announced in February that they are closing their Cowbridge restaurant after 20 years of serving Spanish wines and tapas to food-lovers in the area.
The tapas bar, which is on the high street in the town, has been shut since the first lockdown in March 2020, and since then hasn’t been viable to open due to its intimate setting not allowing for social distancing.
With the lease ending on the property, the Bar 44 team – made up of Natalie Isaac and brothers Tom and Owen Morgan – said it wasn’t the “right business decision” to renew.
Staff members who want to stay with the team have been redeployed to other sites in the group.
Plans for a hotel above the Wetherspoons nearby on Womanby Street prompted anger when they were first revealed in 2017.
The possible effect of the hotel on nearby music venues caused concerns among music fans but were eventually scrapped.