Former theatre is back in business after major restoration

Richard Youle, local democracy reporter

A landmark Victorian building, which fell into almost ruin after years of neglect, is back in business following a major renovation project.

Swansea’s Palace Theatre is now a business hub with a cafe following a £10 million-plus revamp.

It had languished on the corner of High Street and Prince of Wales Road for years before Swansea Council acquired it and commissioned a complex restoration.

The spruced-up exterior has stayed true to its 1888 roots while the interior, spread over six floors including a basement, has been transformed.

While the council retains control of the building it is being operated by Tramshed Tech – its seventh venue in Wales – and offers flexible work space, business growth programmes, and skills and training for the creative, digital and technology sectors.

An informal opening took place on November 6 ahead of a visit by First Minister Eluned Morgan and cabinet colleague Jayne Bryant the following day.

Iconic

Referring to the company’s newest venture, Louise Harris, Tramshed Tech’s co-founder and chief executive, told a gathering: “We are so, so pleased that it’s here in Swansea in what is such an iconic space. I promise you that we will make this a thriving hub of innovation.”

Among those touring the new-look interior, which has retained some original features, was DJ and promoter Matt Hutchinson. Recalling his DJ-ing experiences there, he said: “It was amazing. It was a venue designed to entertain. It was a home for the disenfranchised people of Swansea. You felt like you had 100 years at least of history with you – that energy was in the walls.”

Mr Hutchinson said the former theatre was by then showing signs of wear and tear, with the “penny seats” high up in the building not the safest place to be.

Years later he helped a campaign group, Friends of Palace Theatre, which was collating oral histories of the grade two-listed building. “We ran three projects to maintain and raise its profile,” he said. “The last one, around 2014, was to try to levitate it.”

The Palace Theatre remained stubbornly anchored to the ground although fencing erected by the council in 2019, as shrubs sprouted from masonry above, suggested its structure wasn’t immune to gravity. The council decided enough was enough, bought it from its private owner and fired the restoration gun.

Over the years the Palace Theatre was used as a music hall, bingo hall and nightclub. Films were screened there too.

Former diplomat Denise Davey also campaigned for Friends of the Palace Theatre having returned to Swansea from London. “I was promoting events, so I offered my social media skills,” she said. “The building was being neglected – absent landlords. We wanted to preserve it. From what I have seen now it looks a great place for ‘creatives’ and I look forward to seeing what comes from it.”

More viable

Some people yearned for the wedge-shaped building to return as a theatre but its current offer was considered more viable. “I’m delighted,” said Mr Hutchinson. “It’s another chapter for the Palace, although we would like to see some sort of events.”

Harrison Rees, who works for a Swansea University business support venture called Agor Innovation, said it might use the flexible workspace on a weekly basis and maybe hold meetings there.

“My family is from down the road in Hafod,” he said. “My grandparents used to come here when it was a theatre. My grandmother used to talk about it quite a lot.” Mr Rees said his grandmother told him how she’d pay at the door for one movie then get friends to sneak her in at a side door, allowing her to watch several screenings in a row.

“It’s really sad how it was left to rot,” he said. “I came here when the work was being done. They’ve done an amazing job. It’s definitely going to draw people into High Street.”

Iron balcony

The three-year restoration has preserved features such as the decorative iron balcony, original Ebbw Vale brick, and floor tiles. Porthole-style upper floor windows look out to Kilvey Hill on one side and Matthew Street on the other.

Inside feels like a mini-maze: corridors branch off into unexpected spaces; dungeon-like alcoves lurk in the surprisingly large basement. The ground-floor cafe and main staircase are festooned with work by Swansea artist Jeff Phillips, including a technicolour representation of the infamous Three Nights Blitz of February 1941.

Mrs Harris explained how she helped launch Tramshed Tech with two others after finding it hard to expand an education-technology business she founded in the early 2000s. “I really struggled to get traction here in Wales,” she said. “We were constantly being dragged to London. We felt that wasn’t right, and that we had all the ingredients here in Wales.”

Working in London she recalled sitting next to two young workers from South Wales, including one from Swansea. “There was a big brain drain,” she said. “There was no book then you could read to give you the answers.”

She said over the past 10 years templates had been developed to help tech businesses scale up. She said: “Those templates really help Welsh businesses export beyond our borders.” She added that a company Tramshed Shed had supported, Health and Her, had recently been acquired in a multi-million pound deal.

Tramshed Tech has received funding from the likes of Barclays Bank, Google and Microsoft for the growth programme element of the operation, which is free for the start-ups taking part. The sponsors in turn get access to new companies and products they might otherwise not hear of. Mrs Harris said the company also worked with Gower College Swansea and ran Skills for Swansea, consisting of courses to improve people’s data insight, artificial intelligence and social media skills.

Tramshed Tech runs venues in Cardiff, Newport and Barry, and hopes to expand further into West Wales after landing in Swansea. “We’ve got 5,000 businesses in our network,” said Mrs Harris.

Transformation

The transformation of the Palace Theatre was carried out by construction firm R&M Williams, GWP Architecture, Hydrock (now Stantec), TC Consult, and council officers. Mrs Harris said there was space for to 250 to 300 workers.

Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart said: “It’s amazing to see this fantastic piece of Swansea’s heritage saved, restored and given a new lease of life so that future generations can enjoy it. The transformation of the Palace has been done with such care, style and attention to detail. It’s a real credit to all who have worked so hard to achieve this.

“Before the council acquired the building, the Palace had fallen into an alarming state of disrepair and was in danger of being lost forever.”

Another listed building in Swansea, the Albert Hall, re-opened this summer as a food, entertainment, office and visitor accommodation venue.

The Welsh Government provided £6.9 million towards the Palace Theatre’s upgrade. Jayne Bryant, cabinet secretary for housing and local Government, said: “The redevelopment of the historic Palace Theatre is a crucial catalyst to regenerating Swansea’s High Street and will help encourage economic growth and opportunities for small businesses. I can’t wait to see how this project will benefit both businesses and the local community alike.”