Cardiff's former Eagle 50 nightclub on Charles Street, once famous for its sauna and hot tub, has been completely renovated into serviced apartments, with the transformation managed by a man who once stood outside the club too afraid to go in.
A legendary LGBT+ venue on Charles Street
Number 50 Charles Street was one of the iconic nightclubs on Cardiff's gay scene in the 1990s and 2000s, also becoming infamous for having a sauna and a hot tub collectively referred to as the spa under the description of a 'gay bathhouse'. The club had a number of names over the decades, but many Cardiff residents remember it as the Locker Room, opening in 1993 and becoming instantly known for its hot tub, sauna spa and showers. It later became known as Eagle 50, but the Covid-19 pandemic was the final blow to the establishment as a viable business.
Charles Street itself has a unique history, with numbers 44, 46, 48, 50 and 52-56 all given a Grade II listing from Cadw for their 'group value' and for being "once amongst the most fashionable streets in Cardiff centre". By the 1970s the street became more of a commercial area and a hub for the arts and creative industries, with music venues established in the 1990s aimed predominantly at the LGBT+ community. Legendary venues included Minsky's, Club X, Exit, Icon, the Locker Room, WoW Club and Eagle, leading to the location being described as "Cardiff's gay village".
From rundown state to auction
After Eagle 50 closed in 2021, a statement announcing the closure said: "The cost of running the business during Covid has been far too prohibitive and with no dates even pencilled in for re-opening it is with much regret we have decided to move on. Pre-pandemic we'd never have envisaged this happening - it's sad things that have happened this way are totally out of our control."
The building then slid into a rundown state and went to auction with Seel & Co with a guide price of £325,000, with approved planning for conversion into a ground floor and basement commercial unit and three upper apartments.
A personal connection drives the transformation
Cardiff-born Owain Gwynfryn, now 43, moved to Prestatyn, north Wales with his family when he was 11 but always felt he would return to the capital. When he told his parents he was gay at 17, he says he felt like 'the only gay in the village', referencing a quote from the TV show Little Britain. It wasn't until attending university in Cardiff that he could truly be himself in public, and Charles Street became one of the locations for some of the best memories of his life.
Owain says: "Back then, around 2001 there wasn't much opportunity to meet people like me online, no real gay dating apps, so finding a street that had bars and nightclubs full of people like me, as well as pubs like The Kings Cross on Mill Lane, was amazing." He adds: "The happiest I've ever been in my life, probably, was on Charles Street, you know, with my new bunch of 10, 15, maybe even 20 gay friends."
Owain says he is leasing the building from the freeholder and running the apartments as lets for visitors, with a five year lease after the freeholder refurbished it. He says: "I was looking for a property to lease and manage and when I saw the address I was like, I can't let somebody else have this, I just have to have it because I used to be there, I just felt like it was destiny."
Apartments, a commercial unit and a nod to the past
The renovation was handled by a contractor while Owain worked on decorating and staging the apartments, with bookings handled by local company Starlight Stays. The commercial unit - the basement and ground floor that were the core of the club - are due to be let to Afro Hair Academy, who are already based on the street at number 44 but are looking to relocate.
Owain is also planning to make the interior more 'Welsh', with black and white landscape artwork, slate coasters and placemats, and Welsh tapestry blankets. As for the legendary sauna and hot tub, Owain says they are long gone, most likely rehomed in a skip, but he has an idea to connect to the property's unique past: "I think it would be amazing to add a hot tub to the ground floor unit, outside in the courtyard, a kind of homage to the past but a wonderful bonus for the present."
