THERE was plenty of excitement and talk of a community cafe when Swansea Council started renovating a row of tired-looking shops at the top of High Street.
People in the area and community groups were asked for their suggestions and Cllr Alyson Anthony, then cabinet member for supporting communities, was impressed when she visited in September 2021.
“The transformation is absolutely amazing and I know there are many who can’t wait to see these buildings open and to start making use of them,” she said at the time.
“We are going to have a fantastic social cafe with a fabulous outside area and there are many other projects who want to be part of this.
The units are ideal as a safe space for outreach work and youth engagement as well as employability training and support.”
There are six units in the row and four of them were refurbished at a cost of £313,170, according to a freedom of information response by the council to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
While High Street has experienced a surge of investment activity within the units has been patchy. Covid restrictions were around in 2021 and the first half of 2022 which hampered retail and hospitality. The council said two of the refurbished shops suffered water damage, which explained why they are empty after initially being occupied. Work is being completed on one of them to bring it back to use. The other was occupied by design and murals venture Fresh Creative Co – now based in Mount Pleasant – until earlier this year.
The council said it was in discussions with a potential operator who was interested in running a community cafe at another of the revamped units while the fourth one can be booked as a community space and has been used by various groups.
The other two units, which weren’t part of the £313,170 upgrade, are empty but the council said it may occupy them when work to refurbish the flats above and nearby blocks in Croft Street gets under way. Only one of the six units is large enough to qualify for business rates, which are £1,196 this financial year.
The council owns the row of units and said they had been boarded-up and derelict before it intervened. It was also keen to stress the public and private sector work which has happened or was planned on and near High Street, including:
- A £10m-plus renovation of the Palace Theatre, which opens next month as a business hub
- A £10m upgrade of council flats in nearby Matthew Street
- A planned expansion of the Grand Hotel, opposite the High Street railway station
- New student accommodation blocks
- Proposed new commercial and residential buildings by housing association Coastal Housing, which also built a mixed-use development on High Street called Urban Village
- Business improvement grants for High Street businesses such as Jack’s Kitchen at the corner of College Street
Cllr David Phillips, whose city centre ward includes High Street, said he believed there would be more activity at the shops when the nearby Palace Theatre re-opened. “I think they’re going to become more popular,” he said.
Cllr Phillips also hoped that some of the space could be used in the short-term as a respite area for Croft Street tenants when their flats were upgraded.
