Wales’ first listening bar opens in the heart of Cardiff suburb

Taking influence from the growing popularity of listening bars across London, Cardiff’s newest music venue is a relaxed place for music lovers in the heart of the Welsh capital’s multi-cultural suburban strip, City Road.

Founded by local DJs and musicians, David Bull and Esther Taylor, Paradise Garden offers living room comfort complete a with hi-fidelity sound system, a DJ booth located in a repurposed kitchen and a full sized yurt in the garden.

Paradise Garden Co-Founder and Director David Bull says “Since Cardiff ‘s sharp decline in music spaces, it feels like there is a new wave of culture starting to bubble up again across the city. There is so much creative talent here and Cardiff is seeing all kinds of exciting projects taking off this year. 

It’s an honor to contribute towards this revitalisation of Cardiff’s music scene through the opportunity of taking over this amazing venue space which already has a rich history of nurturing creative communities – something that Esther and I are totally committed to continuing.”

With a mixture of live music, DJs and record collectors programmed from Thursday through to Sunday every week, Paradise Garden aims to promote artist diversity and provide a space to share the lesser represented music sounds in the city. 

The next few weeks will see artists such as Lemfreck, Ani Glass, Voya and Surgeons Girl perform special stripped back and intimate sets, with many more local, national and international DJs and artists lined up.

Paradise Garden is the latest reincarnation of Cardiff’s much loved 213 City Road space which started out as one of Cardiff’s first vegan food spots, Milgi, in 2006. The space has since been home to Blue Honey Local and Eartha before reopening once again as Paradise Garden in October 2022.

Alongside the music program at Paradise Garden, the bar offers a selection of natural wines and craft beer with the house orange wine and locally brewed Yawn Pale Ale by Flowerhorn, already popular hits since the doors opened on October 7th. Light food, cocktails and ice cold Guinness are promised to be introduced over the coming weeks as the business builds itself up further.

Paradise Garden is now open Thursdays to Sundays every week at 213 City Road in Roath, Cardiff. Find out more over on www.instagram.com/paradisegardencdf