A fire tore through Verdi's cafe in Mumbles in the early hours of Thursday, leaving the iconic seafront institution badly damaged and the local community heartbroken.
The blaze, which broke out hours after customers had been dining, was contained to the kitchen and toilet area, according to Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service. However, images show extensive smoke and water damage to the main seating area and roof.
Regulars left devastated
On Thursday morning, many regulars arrived hoping for their usual coffee and ice cream, only to be met with smoke and visible damage. The cafe's doors were open for airing, but it was not serving breakfast.
Elaine and Bernard Conners from Killay told WalesOnline: “We come almost every other day at least. We’re very disappointed today, and it looks like it’s going to take a while to repair. I don’t know where we’ll go instead, we love it there. It’s very sad.”
Angela Lang from Swansea said: “It’s really sad, normally it is very busy here. I imagine it will take a while to get it back up and running. We come once a week, because we love it down here. It’s very sad.”
Family vows to reopen
The Hole family, who took over the cafe in 2023, said they were “absolutely devastated”. Ryan Hole received a call that the cafe “went up [in flames]” overnight. He said it is a particularly devastating time of year, in the middle of their busiest season, but vowed to get Verdi’s “open and back to its brilliant best as soon as possible”.
“We are not sure of the extent of the damage at the moment, so we don’t know what that timeline will look like,” he said.
The family added: “We’re absolutely devastated, but we’ll do everything we can to get Verdi’s back open as soon as it’s safe to do so. We know how much the restaurant means to our team, our customers and the Swansea community, and we’re incredibly grateful for all of the messages of support already. We’ll keep everyone updated over the coming days as we know more.”
The cause of the fire is not yet known. Multiple crews attended the blaze, which was reported shortly after 2am on Thursday.
Verdi's, known for its ice cream, coffees, and authentic Italian food with views of Swansea Bay, was run by the Moruzzi family for generations before the Hole family took over. The family also runs The Secret Bar and Kitchen and The Lighthouse in Swansea.
