Bar 44 to open its first boutique hotel in Cardiff this month

Bar 44 is to open the doors of a nine-bedroom boutique hotel above its Asador 44 restaurant (pictured) in Cardiff this month following a £1m investment from the hospitality group.

The hotel, named Parador 44, will open to guests on 27 June, with prices starting at £195 a night for bed and breakfast, going up to £295 for a suite.

Bar 44 worked with Cardiff-based Design Management Partnership for the architecture and interiors and Westgate Builders for the build, which started in January after the group, which currently has four restaurants restaurants across south Wales and Bristol, bought the building it had been leasing for its Asador restaurant from Brains brewery for £675,000.

A further £1m has been spent on refurbishing the top two floors of the Old Model Inn pub on Quay Street, close to the Millennium Stadium. The group took advantage of funding from Cardiff Council, which offers a five-year interest-free loan for business plans which encourage tourism within the Welsh capital.

Each room has its own individual style: some feature four poster beds, while others have fireplaces.

Reclaimed wood has been used for several of the intricate headboards and the building’s original floorboards have been repurposed into hand-rails and doors for the bathrooms.

The hotel also features a private terrace and lounge, while residents will be offered a full Spanish breakfast cooked over fire by Asdaor head chef Paul Bainbridge which will include four types of pork – Welsh black pork sausage, organic Castilla y León chorizo, Welsh black pork bacon and Morcilla Asturiana – as well as field mushroom; grilled tomato; Arlington egg con puntilla; and potato and caramelised onion hash brown.

Other breakfast options will include pan con tomate paired with jamón Ibérico de Bellota puro; a classic Tarta de Santiago; a sweet pastry from Majorca called ensaïmada; and charcuterie and cheese cut to order.

Owen Morgan, co-owner and director of the Bar 44 group, told The Caterer a hotel had always been part of the business plan.

He said despite Cardiff being the capital of Wales, there is a lack of accommodation, especially boutique hotels.

“All the nice places are in Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire or the Brecon Beacons,” he added. “And there tends to only be branded multinationals in the city, which are a bit vanilla.”

Bar 44 launched its first restaurant in the market town of Cowbridge, Wales, in 2002, but the site closed in 2021 when the lease came to an end.

The group, which is headed up by siblings Owen Morgan, Tom Morgan and Natalie Isaac, plans to find another Cowbridge site over the coming year.

It also has plans for further restaurants and a hotel in Bristol and a new Mercado 44 concept which will see its delivery business move into a physical retail store with a 60-cover tapas offering.

*Read the full interview with Bar 44 siblings in The Caterer next month. *