Tapas restaurant on the menu at city centre spot
A TAPAS restaurant looks set to move into a newlytransformed Swansea city centre building.
In February, we reported how the scaffolding finally came down from around Orchard House, revealing a significantly more attractive and modern sight for those who pass the building. For years the building has been an eyesore overlooking one of the city’s busiest junctions at the eastern end of The Kingsway where it meets Princess Way.
When it is fully complete, the Pobl Group project will breathe new life into the building, with 52 one and two-bedroom apartments on the upper levels, and new commercial premises on the ground floor, along with modern offices on the first floor.
And now it seems it will also become the home of a tapas bar which is set to bolster its revival even more. Orchard House Ltd has asked Swansea Council for permission to transform 13 Orchard Street from a retail unit into a cafe/takeaway, which will be used to sell tapas food.
Documents submitted as part of the plans read: “The site has undergone a complete redevelopment over the past few years and the proposed tenant would be selling tapas to take away.
“There are a number of vacant retail stores within Swansea city centre and the market has undergone significant change since the emergence of Covid-19. If town and city centres are to emerge from the current crisis they must seek to reinvent themselves and uses such as this will be an important form of use moving forward.”
It adds that the unit has been vacant for in excess of 18 months and if approved, the plan will “create job opportunities for local people”.
The transformation of Orchard House is part of Swansea Council’s regeneration plan to attract more people to live and work in the city centre.
The construction is being carried out by the South Wales-based Jehu Group. Pobl Group was given planning permission to change the building by city planners in February, 2019.
It is not the only new business we can look forward to opening in Swansea. In Mumbles, a new independent bar and kitchen is soon set to open called The Ponderosa. It is currently in the process of recruiting front of house and kitchen staff.
It will be located at 626 Mumbles Road, the former base of The Kitchen Table, which announced in July last year that it was closing for good due to the “devastating financial impact” of the coronavirus pandemic.