Swansea's brand new arena may only have been open for a handful of shows, but businesses around the area say they have already noticed a boost.
The first week for the long-anticipated 3,500 capacity venue saw comedian John Bishop become the first official act to perform before audiences, followed by rock duo Royal Blood. You can read a review of their performance by clicking here, and read all about how John's show went by clicking here. You can also read everything you need to know about the new arena here.
And ahead of the show, it seems as if audience members made a night of it by visiting local restaurants for a bite to eat, or nearby pubs to get a few drinks inside them before heading inside. Those behind the businesses situated the closest to the new attraction spoke of how things had gone so far, and their high hopes for the future. You can get more weather and other story updates by subscribing to our newsletters here.
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Referring to the night that John Bishop performed at the arena, Selcuk Meseci of The Anchor, explained that business was booming. He said: "There was a big uptake in business. Normally there is not much trade going on at the moment, but it was packed between 5.30pm and 7.30pm. Most of the people were going to the show. A lot of people from outside Swansea. I had some people from Newport, and another person from Cardiff. It wasn't just Swansea people, it was people from outside the area too. It is good for Swansea that it has brought people in.
"I think the arena is going to make a huge difference to the business. Most of the midweek shows will really help. That's the problem around the marina, that midweek it's quiet. When the shows are on midweek that's going to really help the businesses around here. I think we are going to be doing pre-show menus from now on at reasonable prices." You can join us on our first look around the new arena here. There was also a test night for the new venue which we went to and wrote about here.
Gigi Gao, owner of Gigi Gao's Favourite Authentic Chinese, said she was excited by what's to come. She said: "I think it will definitely be great for us - we are expecting a lot of bookings on the nights of the shows. We have been looking forward to it, the arena is really great for businesses in the Marina area, and all the businesses here will be very happy and very honoured to have customers visiting before they go to the arena and we can provide somewhere for them to eat, relax and enjoy.
"We are one of the closest to the arena - we're really lucky! We took a booking from last year, I remember this booking very clearly because when booking they said, we are going to see a show at the arena. I believe there are more bookings that have come from the arena opening."
Owner of Gallinis, Gurbuz Vural, echoed Ms Gao's sentiments. He said: "It has really helped, so far so good. It has been effective. I think it is going to be really good long term for Gallinis, but not just for us, all across the businesses around here, it will be good for everyone. It's good things that we have now. The city is growing and it is bringing more people into the town as well."
Manager of The Queens Hotel, Joe Hixson, one of the nearest pubs to the arena, said he felt it would be good for the business going forward, adding: "We have noticed that when there's been something on there it has been busy. Saturday night there was a good few groups of youngsters that we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise.
"With the John Bishop one midweek it didn't make that much of a difference, a few people came afterwards but not so many beforehand, but Saturday was good for it. I think it is going to be good for the pub, we're probably one of the closest bars to it and people want to go out and have a few beers before they go in - they will be looking for reasonable beer before they go in and have to pay a lot more."
