Closing Swansea restaurant La Tasca 'no longer financially viable'
A SWANSEA restaurant is due to close after just seven years of business in the city.
Spanish-themed restaurant La Tasca will close in Wind Street after its parent company decided the outlet was not economically viable.
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La Tasca, in Swansea’s Wind Street, which is set to close
It is unclear how many jobs will be lost as a result, although the company which runs the restaurant is working with staff to find employment opportunities elsewhere.
Around 50 jobs were created when La Tasca launched in Wind Street in 2005.
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Around 250 guests joined in the opening night celebrations at the venue, which operates over two floors.
A spokeswoman for La Tasca said: "We can confirm that we are planning to close our restaurant in Swansea.
"We are working with staff from the restaurant to find employment opportunities elsewhere, but unfortunately it was not economically viable to continue trading in these locations.
"We'd like to thank our customers for their support and loyalty over the years.
"The nearest La Tasca restaurant can be found at Brewery Quarter in Cardiff."
La Tasca has not yet confirmed a closing date for the Swansea restaurant.
The chain runs 70 restaurants across the UK and opened its first outlet in Manchester city centre in 1993.
News of the closure follows the closure of major casino Aspers which permanently shut its doors in Wind Street at the end of last month with the loss of 60 jobs.
Aspers also closed as it was no longer financially viable.
Swansea Business Improvement District (Bid) chief executive Russell Greenslade said: "It's never pleasing to hear this type of thing, particularly for the staff concerned.
"Despite this news of a national chain closing, commercially astute businesses are continuing to invest and create jobs with several new exciting venues such as Bloomburger, Chaplin and Bambu coupled with major investment in housing and retail happening in the area.
"We will continue to work with our partners to support and attract city centre businesses."
rupert.hall@swwmedia.co.uk
01792 514 597
Comments
by siddysod
Monday, September 24 2012, 7:32PM
“it is rubbish food, no wonder it is closing”
by StephenG11
Sunday, September 23 2012, 9:31PM
“Lezz T - where do you get your info from? The UK average is c £26k per year, I simply don't believe Swansea is higher than that. I fear philosoraptor is right - there just isn't enough money circulatinbg in Swansea. To adress this, we need some serious businesses to invest in the City. BID do their best of course but they are really only working at a cosmtic level. It is noticeable that businesses aat the lower end of Wine S(except the Brasseria) tend to struggle, while shops that are not in the Quadrant or right by it, also struggle. To me, that says that Swansea right now can only sustain a more limited number of shops, bars and restaurants and we better recognise the fact. BID do their best but are only working at a cosmetic level. Without more non retail businesses moving in to bring footfall and spending money, the City Centre is going to shrink and become ever more residential in character”
by muld00ns
Saturday, September 22 2012, 9:51AM
“The problem with Swansea is there is no vision. As someone previously mentioned all Swansea council are only interested in building social housing and wasting loads of money on the bendy bus. I don't care what anyone says its a waste of money, I have experience as I have a degree in a transport management. Along with the vision is the investment, I hate to say it but Cardiff have got it totally right. They have separated the bars from the restaurants, which Wind Street hasn't done. They could of made the Kingsway a bar street and Wind Street a cafe area but the council succumbed to probably making money out of extra licences wind street would bring it rather than the kingsway. Its about time the council did a massive re-think and get someone in with not only the experience but a great vision of transforming Swansea, even if it takes years with some heartache it will be worth it!”
by Sandson
Saturday, September 22 2012, 9:30AM
“Don't know about the other issues mentioned here, but I put the decision down to old-fashioned competition. There are several fairly good quality restaurants and eateries in the vicinity and tastes also change. The establishment of the Grape and Olive is also probably a factor. Instead of upping their game, La Tasca is moving out. Not much difference between them and Unilver (Alberto-Culver) in my book.”
by Lezz_T
Friday, September 21 2012, 9:59PM
“Philosoraptor, you don't half write some rubbish.
The Abercrave Inn is a country pub 18 miles away in a different county.
There is no valid comparison to a city center restaurant.
As for your nonsense about wages in Birmingham and Manchester being double that of Swansea,
the average wage in Swansea is £27,325- Birmingham £27,787 and Manchester just £26,058.
http://tinyurl.com/ch4q68s
Do you make up these "facts" off the top of your head?”
by Hadoken4543
Friday, September 21 2012, 9:50PM
“Nobody in swansea has a clue, those in charge would not last 2 minutes in the private sector, so they hide behind schemes like BID where they gets lots of money for doing jack all.
Swansea is full of social housing, even the town centres, the main high street has the job centre, dss, a brothel, all of the flats there are mostly filled with problem cases, who in turn have other problem cases as friends who all come to the area and lower the tone.
Before you know it the area is full of the type of people who live on beans and chips, not tapas.”
by Philosoraptor
Friday, September 21 2012, 9:02PM
“One of the problems is these chains tend to have strict pricing structures, but Swansea offers far less wages yet we still pay Manchester and Birmingham prices... Our wages are not too far off the halfway mark of those cities.
The result is we don't go because pubs offer better value for money as far as meals are concerned. Abercrave Inn or this place? No contest, Abercrave Inn has awesome food but costs a little less for a filling meal!”
by brokenbitter
Friday, September 21 2012, 6:40PM
“@hafodsam - you're dead right about the BID. They came out with the same drivel when it was announced that Aspers was closing. http://tinyurl.com/cl2fh7r”
by BossHogg
Friday, September 21 2012, 2:59PM
“They should flatten the city centre and rebuild it. It has to be one of the most disjointed city centres in the UK.”
by zuidholland
Friday, September 21 2012, 2:26PM
“Having moved away to live in Holland some years back, I was astonished to see the rapid decline of Swansea city centre upon my last visit to family. I have always promoted my lovely city to people overseas but now, other than the gower and Mumbles, there would be nothing to drag me or visitors into the centre of Swansea. The Swansea Business Improvement District (Bid) team need to seriously up their game.
Holland”