Listed building set to reopen after £9 million facelift

The grand unveiling of an iconic Swansea building is due to take place this Thursday after a major restoration project costing nearly £9 million.

The Albert Hall is now a four-storey venue comprising a ground-floor food hall and bar, with private entertainment space, offices, studios, visitor accommodation, a gym and a rooftop garden above.

LoftCo Ltd, the company behind the project, ran a “soft launch” last Saturday giving food traders a chance to put their new units to the test and guests an opportunity to check out the food hall, which is a similar concept to Founders & Co on Wind Street.

The Albert Hall is on the fringe of the city centre between The Kingsway and De-La-Beche Street and not necessarily a location where people gravitate to socialise, but LoftCo Ltd director Simon Baston said he hoped this would change. “The maxim is, build it and they will come,” he said. “The building is where the building is, and it’s on the road to the train station.”

Expensive 

Bringing listed buildings back into use is complicated and expensive and the Albert Hall, which opened as a public assembly hall and concert venue in 1864, was deteriorating after closing its doors as a cinema and bingo hall in 2007.

Similar to the Palace Theatre, off High Street, its future looked looked uncertain before LoftCo secured planning permission from Swansea Council and a £5.6 million Welsh Government grant to help buy and transform it.

“It’s got really good potential and I think it’s going to be very busy,” said food hall tenant Ali Tortorella, joint owner of The Pizza Boyz, which also has a restaurant on nearby Walter Road. “It’s an up-and-coming area, and places like this seem to fill themselves.”

Former MasterChef finalist Larkin Cen, whose new Albert Hall outlet XO sells bao burgers, noodles and bubble tea, said it was his kind of building. He said: “It has been derelict for a long time, and I love regeneration projects.” He grew up in Cardiff and already has venues in Bristol and Newport, although under a different brand, and said his workforce would expand to around 25 with XO. “It’s going to be lovely to be part of the community, serving great food to locals,” he said.

Ex-steelworker

Ex-steelworker and engineer Jack Phillips and Marcin Sadlos, from Port Talbot, had a change of career in 2021 when the school friends bought a burger van and set up Burger Boyz despite no experience in the trade. They have venues in their hometown, Newport Market and now in Swansea, and around 30 employees. “It’s a historic building and such a cool place,” said Mr Phillips of the Albert Hall. “And we just really like feeding people.”

A company called Academy Coffee Ltd, co-owned by Mr Baston, is operating the bar and a soon-to-open ground floor cafe and play area beside the main entrance. Academy site general manager Samantha Thomas was impressed with the building. “It’s been asleep for a long while, we are waking it up,” she said.

When the grade two-listed building opened 160 years ago it was called The Music Hall and had space for 2,500 people. It became the Albert Hall in 1882 and over the years luminaries such as Charles Dickens, Oscar Wilde, David Lloyd George and opera singer Adelina Patti spoke and performed there. Early restoration proposals envisaged an 800-capacity music venue but this gave way to the current layout, which Mr Baston said had space for 450 people on the ground floor and 100 people in private entertainment areas above.

LoftCo has venues in Cardiff, Barry, Newport and Porthcawl, and Mr Baston has plans for more. The Albert Hall, he said, had been a long time in the making and required a new roof and supporting steel frame to be installed by contractor RNF Property Group, of Llanelli. Plasterers, electricians and other trades worked their down from the top floor, restored the exterior and finally made the grand old dame fit for reintroduction into society. The results, said Mr Baston, who also thanked Swansea Council and the Development Bank of Wales, were “unbelievable”.

He said the offices and serviced accommodation for visitors spending a few days in the area would open shortly. “Swansea can’t keep pace with tourism,” he said. “It desperately needs accommodation.”

Mr Baston said the Albert Hall would not open late at night and that he wanted it to be a place where families came to spend time and have a bite to eat. There’ll also be Italian, Greek, Indian, and doughnut and milkshake options. He added: “This is the new socialising for young people. They socialise earlier in the day and all the data is showing they drink less, but spend more.”

Disruption

The construction project has caused some disruption for Craddock Street businesses and a road closure. But it’s hoped that footfall with a large new seven-day-a-week venue will now increase. Speaking in January, Sam Levett, of vintage clothes shop Karma Bespoke – opposite the Albert Hall – said: “The project manager has explained to me what’s happening there. It’s amazing, and well-needed.”

A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: “We know that heritage buildings, such as the listed Albert Hall, are truly valued within the community and we’re glad that through our Transforming Towns programme we’ve been able to support LoftCo and Swansea Council with this transformation. Bringing disused buildings back into active use is a central pillar of our regeneration strategy and we look forward to seeing Albert Hall officially open.”