The Patti Pavilion is to open seven days a week, so you won’t need a ticket to a gig or an invite to a wedding to get through the doors, the venue says.
Now calling itself The Patti, it says it is getting “a whole new look”, new seating areas, drinks offers and a student discount.
It wants to be somewhere “to meet your mates, settle in for a drink and let ‘just the one’ turn into a proper catch-up.” No opening date has been given beyond “soon”.
And it has its eye on the rugby crowd next door. The Ospreys play their first game at the rebuilt St Helen’s tonight, against the Dragons (7pm).
The venue said: “With St Helens next door, we’ll be your stop-off before the game and the place to talk it all over afterwards.”
St Helen’s next door: The Patti wants the Ospreys crowd before and after the game
It will not have the match-day trade to itself. The family firm behind The Secret, across Mumbles Road, is running the food and drink inside the ground, from a hospitality marquee called The Aviary to the fan zone.
The Ospreys play Cardiff there a week later, on Saturday 31 October. Swansea RFC are back at St Helen’s too, in their 150th year at the ground.
The events are not going anywhere either: “They’re staying, and we’re making them even better.”
Patti Pavilion history: the opera star’s winter garden that moved to Swansea
The building started life in 1891 as the winter garden at Craig-y-Nos, the home of opera star Adelina Patti, according to the Theatres Trust.
She gave it to Swansea after the First World War. It was taken down and rebuilt in Victoria Park, and the front still carries the date 1920.
The Grade II-listed hall has had its ups and downs since. A 1994 makeover for the BBC’s Challenge Anneka ended years of decline, and it was damaged by fire in 2006.
It has hosted pantomimes, plays and rock gigs, from Jefferson Starship to Scouting for Girls. Swansea magician Taylor Morgan, who brought his show Phenomenal there in August, has said his great-grandmother “used to come here to dance”.
The venue said: “So whether you’ve danced with us for years or you’ve walked past and never popped in, we can’t wait to welcome you into this next chapter.”
More details are promised. “There’s a lot happening behind those doors, and we can’t wait to share what’s coming,” it said.
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