The damage to Verdi’s is worse than the family first thought.
Ryan Hole, whose family took over the Mumbles seafront café in 2023, said the business is still working through the assessment and hopes to give a clearer update next week.
Fire crews were called to the Knab Rock café at 2.09am on Thursday, with engines from Swansea West, Swansea Central and Port Talbot.
Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service said the fire was confined to the kitchen and toilet area. Crews used four breathing apparatus sets and two hose reel jets, along with a thermal imaging camera and a gas monitor, and had left by 4.44am.
Nobody was hurt.
(Images: Richie Crossley / Reddit)
The main seating area was left with smoke and water damage, and sections of the roof were affected. Photographs taken overnight showed flames coming through the roof.
The fire service said on Thursday that the cause was not known.
Hole thanked people for the messages that have come in since, and named the team he says is taking it hardest.
“I feel for Giuseppe, Jon, Rob, Ivanna and the team,” he said. “They’re brilliant people who care deeply about Verdi’s and its customers. It’s their second home and they’re understandably heartbroken.”
He also addressed criticism the business has faced in the days since.
“Over the years, I’ve become used to the criticism that can come with running a business, but some of the comments over the last 24 hours have been disappointing,” he said. “We may not be perfect, but please don’t question our integrity or the care we have for our people, our customers and our businesses.”
“To be honest, we’re all still in shock.”
Verdi’s has been on the seafront for decades, turning out up to 30 flavours of fresh Italian ice cream a day with seating for hundreds looking out over the stretch of bay the council wants to transform. It was run for generations by the Moruzzi family before the Holes took it on, and their Secret Hospitality Group runs a string of Swansea venues including The Secret Beach Bar and Kitchen.
The timing is about as bad as it gets, with the closure landing in the middle of the school holidays and the busiest weeks of the trading year. Welsh hospitality has had a hard run of it, with the Welsh Government bringing in fresh rates relief for pubs, cafés and restaurants in February after warnings about the gap with England.
Gwyn Williams, Plaid Cymru MS for Gŵyr Abertawe, said he was deeply saddened by the fire. Verdi’s, he said, is “much more than a café, it’s an institution” where the people of Swansea have made memories for generations.
There is no date for reopening. The family expect to know more next week.
“One thing I can promise is that Verdi’s will be back,” Hole said. “We just don’t know when or exactly what that will look like yet.”
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