Swansea Council is looking for café and restaurant operators to move into the two new pavilions going up in Castle Square.
It has started an early marketing exercise for the food and drink spaces in Castle Square Gardens, inviting businesses to register their interest before the units are formally put on the market.
The spaces are being handled by commercial property agents E J Hales.
It comes as the first of the new buildings starts to rise out of the ground, with the steelwork for one of the pavilions now complete and more construction due in the coming months.
Drop-in with the Castle Square builders at Y Storfa on Wednesday
Anyone who wants to see the latest plans or ask the builders questions can meet contractor Knights Brown at a drop-in session at Y Storfa on Wednesday 30 September, from 2.30pm to 4.30pm.
No booking is needed, and the council says businesses, city centre workers and visitors are all welcome. Knights Brown also runs a website for the project.
The copper and stone pavilions still looking for tenants
The two pavilions, one clad in copper and one built from stone with a planted roof terrace, were shown in detail for the first time in August.
Neither had a tenant then. In June the council’s regeneration manager Lee Richards told councillors there had been significant interest, but that no units had been let.
Council leader Rob Stewart said the council now wanted “ambitious café, restaurant and hospitality operators who want to be part of one of the most high-profile locations in Swansea city centre”.
“People can already see that Castle Square Gardens is starting to take shape,” he said.
“This is an exciting milestone because it means we’re not just talking about the future of Castle Square any more, we’re starting to see it take shape.”
He said the new businesses would help create “the lively, welcoming atmosphere people have told us they want to see in this part of the city”.
Castle Square Gardens due to open in summer 2027
The council says the gardens are due to open in summer 2027. It has pointed to that date since the foundations went in in July, a year later than it said when the first designs were revealed in 2025.
Once finished, the council says, the square will be more than 40% green space, with more trees and planting, interactive water features, seating and new public spaces alongside the cafés.
Knights Brown was also the council’s contractor for the new sea wall in Mumbles.
The work is part of what the council describes as a £1bn regeneration programme across Swansea city centre.
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