An old Victorian pub in Cardiff that has been closed for more than a year will be transformed into a restaurant, shop, and flats. Kings Castle on Cowbridge Road East in Canton closed in early 2025, and its attached shop shut just over a year later.
Sarhan Investments Ltd has received planning permission from Cardiff Council to convert the former pub into a restaurant and shop with four attached flats. The Victorian property is a large three-storey building with an apartment above the pub space.
Lack of business led to closure
According to the planning application, Kings Castle ceased trading due to “lack of business”. A council planner’s report describes the building as a “prominently-located public house with some rich ornamental details” that had been in service for 130 years.
The plans show that part of the building’s ground floor will be converted into a restaurant, while the remaining space will become a shop. The application states this will “improve financial viability” for the property.
Flats aimed at working couples
The upper floors will be converted into one and two-bedroom apartments, marketed towards “working couples or single occupancy” as “there is a demand in this location for such smaller residential accommodation.” Extensions are proposed for the second floors.
The applicant wrote that the project would improve the street scene of Cowbridge Road East, bring an empty unit into “beneficial use”, and increase the amount of “much-needed” accommodation in the area.
Planning report supports change
The planning report states: “Given that the pub use has ceased with no real prospect of re-commencement it is considered that use of the upper floors as self-contained flats would be the optimum viable use of the building.”
It continues: “Overall and on balance it is considered that any minor negative impact on the character and appearance of the area would be outweighed by the provision of a good-sized flat within the extended part in a highly sustainable location.”
