A brilliant new house music venue and cocktail bar has launched in Swansea - just days before Wales' covid nightclub restrictions come into force.
Heaven Swansea replaces the former La Cantina unit on Wind Street and aims to bring something completely different to the Swansea hospitality scene.
Local residents Greg Pickin and Christian Roche, managing directors of Swansea-based house music events brand 100% Old Skool, are behind the new venture - which marries fancy cocktails with classic house music in a bright and vibrant setting.
Read more: You can watch your dinner being made in front of you at new Korean-style restaurant
The venue consists of a cocktail bar on the ground floor with DJs and mixologists and a club room on the first-floor with state-of-the-art sound and lighting.
Earlier this year, when plans for the new venue were announced, Greg explained the new venue is focused around “amazing music, world-class cocktails and world-class service”.
Whilst the pandemic has caused some delays with the new venue (it initially hoped to open in time for Beaujolais Day), Greg, Christian and their team are now ready to open the venue’s doors to the public.
Greg told us previously: "We are bringing something completely different to Swansea that we feel it needs as it's lacking a good house music venue. Me and my partner are directors of 100% Old Skool (a house music events brand) which is the only one in Wales.
"This opportunity came up to buy La Cantina so we are turning it into a house music venue with cocktails. We are trying to make it something really classy and funky.
"We are going to have amazing music from the best DJs in Wales, world-class cocktails with our own little twists, and world-class service."
He adds that the venue is suitable for everyone but, due to the music it will be playing, is more likely to attract the 25+ crowd.
He said: “Everyone is welcome but the music tends to bring people 25+. There’s no where else like it. We’ve held day parties at 100% Old Skool, now we can turn our day parties into night parties and move them over to here.”
“It’s the opposite of other cocktail bars that tend to be quite dark,” Greg added. “It’s white and bright, with lots of mirrors and disco balls.”
Whilst clubbers are sure to enjoy the bright setting, the club room with its dance floor and the DJs playing downstairs, the drinks menu is also expected to prove particularly popular.
On the drinks menu at Heaven Swansea is 12 distinct cocktails, devised by bar manager Dan Williams who was recently placed in the Top 50 bartenders in the UK.
The bar also has an extensive ‘drinks database’ of cocktails and spirits, so customers will be able to suggest flavours and ingredients for other cocktails, if they want something that’s not on the usual menu.
The venue officially launched on December 17, just a few days before new Covid-19 restrictions come into force in Wales which order nightclubs to close and other hospitality premises to reintroduce social-distancing and one-way systems wherever possible.
Explaining the decision to close nightclubs, first minister Mark Drakeford said: "We are closing nightclubs because of our anxiety about super-spreader events. We know that omicron, in particular, thrives in places where there is close contact between people, and that is the nature of a nightclub.
"It is not the same way as pubs. I am told people go to nightclubs to get up and personal."
Fortunately for Heaven Swansea, the venue is categorised as a bar not a nightclub – but Greg has had to adapt Heaven’s ‘clubroom’ to make it follow the new guidelines.
"We're classed as a bar but with our clubroom, we'll check the rules around music volume [previous Covid-19 rules required nightclubs and venues to limit the volume of their music] and we'll put loads of tables out and have table service," he said.
"We're well-equipped for table-service, we've got a great front of house team.
“We're in the middle of the pandemic, we don't know how long it will go on for. We just have to adapt to the climate and circumstances."
The venue launched on Friday, December 17 – but the team are already looking to the future.
In the long-term, they hope to make Heaven Swansea so successful that they can launch sister sites elsewhere in Wales and across the UK.
“We’ve done lots of research and nobody [no other venue] plays house music and serves cocktails.
“If it kicks off like we want it to, we’d look to take this on to other towns and cities.
“Heaven Swansea is the home of house music and cocktails. It’s been six months in the making and it’s been immensely stressful [setting up a business during a pandemic], but we’ve got it over the line and we hope everyone loves it as much as we do.” Greg added.
The team at Heaven Swansea would like to thank Swansea Council for its support.
The venue received a “small regeneration grant” from the council earlier this year, to help them fund the development of the venue and they’re delighted with what they’ve been able to create.
Heaven Swansea can be found on Wind Street, Swansea city centre.
Whilst it will be observing the table-service rule and all other Wales Government Covid-19 laws, when restrictions lift the venue will typically be o pen from early evening until 1.30am with a bar downstairs and 'nightclub room' upstairs. Entry will be around £5 per person.
To get the latest What's On newsletters from WalesOnline, click here
