Premier Hospitality

Gassy’s Cardiff

Gassy’s
Written by Roma Publications

Gassy’s Cardiff

Formally a student social space that had been left undeveloped for a number of years, Gassy’s Cardiff is a brand new student pub.

Following a £250,000 investment, Gassy’s is the latest addition to the Common Room brand operated by Stonegate Pub Company. Open for breakfast from 9am until the early hours, Gassy’s is a flexible student hub, whether it be seminar prep during the day or watching the big match in the evening.

To carry out the transformation of the space into Gassy’s, Stonegate turned to long time design partners Spatialized. Having work on a number of venues in the Common Room brand, Spatialized was ideally placed to create the perfect desitnation for the area. Interior Designer Dan Cowgill explained:

“Stonegate wanted Gassy’s to fall into their Common Room brand and maintain the strong relationship it had with the local Student population. The problem with this site was that we carried out a Common Room refurbishment only last year just round the corner and that venue was thriving. We therefore had to do something that had the same offering and fell within the Common Room brand but looked completely different and independent from the site 200 yards away.

“The main issue with the Gassy’s building was its appearance, it looked like apartments behind a modern faceless brick facade and we needed to make it look at lot more pub like. We proposed a large bespoke graffiti mural along the ground floor exterior, a striking stripy awning and a signage scheme with a very independent feel. Internally, the main feature of the space is that it has a really high ceiling with a mezzanine level. The bar is against the highest wall in the venue and a new 30ft high traditional backfitting would have taken up the entire budget, so instead we kept it simple and original. A double run of illuminated bottle steps sits below a second graffiti mural of a wonderful welsh dragon bursting out of the port in Cardiff which becomes the central feature within the venue. The rest of the space evolves off that.

“Internally it was key that we maintained the Common Room zones within design. A Sports Zone with a Pool Table is within a High Dining Zone, there is the Lounge Zone and an extra special Indoor Beer Garden across the Mezzanine level. The pastel shades complimented the dragon mural centrally while bold colours help to highlight each zone independently.”

Drinks include astonishing freak-shakes involving cake, cream, nutella, marshmallows and candyfloss, to a craft beer and cider wall featuring Camden Pale Ale, Tiny Rebel and Lilley’s craft cider. All day breakfasts are served from 9am; there’s more than hot breakfast and grab ‘n’ go pastries and coffee. There’s grazing food, from breakfast to dinner, it’s a bar geared up to keep customers fuelled up.

Sports air across ten HD screens and projector with Sky and BT sports it’s a sanctuary for sports fans of all types. Each night of the week also brings a different form of entertainment, such as quiz night on Monday’s to live performances on Friday.

About the author

Roma Publications