Star Pubs & Bars has reopened The Unicorn pub in Cardiff, UK, after completing a £1.4m ($1.69m) renovation project.
The Unicorn, which was shut for five years, now features a garden room with sharing tables and a chef’s table for dining with bi-fold doors onto the terrace, a lounge/dining area and a relaxed locals’ bar.
Outside the pub, guests have a choice of seating on the new terrace in the timber booths or at high tables and picnic benches with parasols at the front.
Its menu includes traditional pub favourites while its drinks offerings include a wide array of premium wines, cocktails, spirits and beers. The pub also serves cask and craft ales, Heineken 0.0 and all-day barista-style coffee.
The upgrade of the pub included an advanced dispense technology, which is claimed to improve the quality and consistency of draft beer and cider.
The Unicorn operator Gemma Morgan said: “I’ve been helping out in my parents’ pubs since I was 15. Hospitality is in my blood. Taking The Unicorn on a managed operator agreement gives people like me who haven’t got a financial background or resources the opportunity to do so.”
With this investment, the company is has invested £1.75m in the last month. Its investment in Wales over the last three years has totalled more than £4m.
The company also announced a £200,000 overhaul of The Talbot on Talbot Green, Llantrisant.
Star Pubs & Bars also plans to open another village pub, The Newborough Arms, Bontnewydd this week with a joint investment of £200,000 with Steven Hughes, licensee of The Crown in Caernarfon.
Star Pubs & Bars managing director Lawson Mountstevens said: “We’re delighted to have brought The Unicorn back to life – it’s now a stunning pub inside and out and is our flagship pub in Wales.
“With so much housing on its doorstep, local offices and a retail park nearby and no other pubs in the vicinity, the area is crying out for a pub like The Unicorn, which offers something for everyone.
“The Unicorn brings the investment that we have made in Wales in the last three years to over £4m and demonstrates our commitment to the Welsh economy.”
