BALE LOOKS TO NEW GOLF BAR VENTURE
WALES. Golf. Madrid. Two out of three for Gareth Bale’s new business venture isn’t bad.
The Wales and Real Madrid forward is the investor in Par 59, a new bar, restaurant and mini-golf venue opening in Cardiff city centre.
The bar, which is being developed by the team behind The Depot, is tapping into a growing market and one that a young, non-drinking Bale would have enjoyed growing up in the city.
A number of ventures are combining pubs with social sports and they have seen rapid growth in recent years.
Bounce, which centres on ping pong, recently raised $20m at the end of 2019 to expand in the UK and US while Flight Club, focused on darts, expanded to the US with two venues, and has four sites in the UK. Puttshack, a mini-golf bar, has four venues in London and the southeast, with a Miami venture in the pipeline. However, Par 59, unlike Puttshack, is for adults only.
“We have looked at models like that,” Bale said. “We’ve seen the popularity of hybrid destinations and how kind of fun it is, but obviously at the moment we want to focus on Cardiff, establishing Par 59 and getting the business correct in Cardiff. Then if everything goes well we would look to go nationally and internationally. We believe in what we are doing and the aim is to become as big as we can.”
It marks a second step into the hospitality sector for the footballer, following on from his partnership with Brains Brewery and the opening of Elevens Bar & Grill in Cardiff in 2017. However, earlier this month Brains announced it will sell off 40 pubs.
“We’ve heard about Brains and the difficulties they have, but we still have confidence in the company and we have a very good relationship with them,” said Bale.
“We are doing really well as a company with Brains, we have full confidence and want to continue to keep striving forward and keep doing the best we can for both parties.”
The name for the new bar venture comes from a sub-60 round being a massive achievement in golf – there have only been 10 in PGA Tour history.
When quizzed how close he has gotten to a par 59, Bale laughs.
“I haven’t quite got a Par
59, but I have broken 70. The best I shot is 67, which for a amateur is pretty good... to get to the magic number of 59 takes something special.”
And when asked which teammates, past and present, he would invite for the debut round of the new course he was quick to answer: Joe Ledley and Wayne Hennessey.
“When we go away with Wales we have a lot of fun and there is always me, Joe Ledley and Wayne Hennessey. So for us three to take a round at Par 59, have a laugh and a beer, us three would have a great craic and great laugh as we always do.” The bar is expected to open in April, but with coronavirus throwing the country into uncertainty Bale and the team are keeping a close on the news coming out of Westminster.
“We are going to try and push ahead with our opening date,” he said. “But no-one really knows exactly how coronavirus is going to affect businesses and everything is up in the air. We will work within the government guidelines and make sure we are doing everything we can to do everything properly. It is just a waiting game and we will go with what we need to and what the people in the government say.”
Looking to the future, Bale anticipates making more moves into the industry.
“I’m not going to be playing football forever, so we are interested in doing these kind of things, especially in Wales as we want to give back to the city I was born in and we want to grow Cardiff as much as we can.
“By putting Elevens and Par 59 there we are adding to the city, hopefully we are expanding it and making it more exciting for youngsters and people in general to do different things and have fun.”