PORTHCAWL: The Buccaneer is saved, and getting its 1930s ocean liner look back
Porthcawl‘s Buccaneer isn’t coming down after all.
The seafront bar on the corner of Mackworth Road and Sandy Bay was due to be flattened for new development, after its previous owner applied to demolish it. Instead it is going to be restored.
Bridgend County Borough Council says the plan is to strip off the mismatched modern additions and bring back the building’s original 1930s “ocean liner” design, with its views over the beach and the sea.
What goes inside is still being worked out. The council’s early ideas include a restaurant or café, and space for new shops and kiosks.
An artist’s impression showing diners on the upper terraces and tables outside (Image: Bridgend County Borough Council)The Beachcomber and the old Wimpy come down first
Demolition held back over the summer is now going ahead, focused on the former Coney Beach funfair and the Beachcomber site.
The Beachcomber closed for good on 11 January. Known in earlier years as the Cabin and the Showboat, it was a busy venue for live music and discos, and a regular stage for tribute acts during the town’s Elvis Festival.
The Beachcomber next to the Coney Beach funfair. It closed in January and is being demolished (Image: Google Maps)The council confirmed in July that the building would come down once the summer season ended. The old Wimpy building goes too, which the council says will give the restored Buccaneer clear views of the beach and sea.
The council says it will keep the seafront open while the work goes on, so people can still walk, cycle, use wheelchairs and push buggies along it.
It also plans stopgap attractions while the regeneration is under way, from padel courts and crazy golf to beach yoga and surf schools, with details promised “very soon”.
The Buccaneer and the old Wimpy on Porthcawl seafront in 2011. The Wimpy is being knocked down to open up the Buccaneer’s sea views (Image: Google Maps)From the Continental Café to the Pagoda Rooms
The building opened in the 1930s as the Continental Café, the council says. After the Second World War it became Sidoli’s Ice Cream Parlour, until the mid-1950s.
It then became the Rising Sun, a live music venue with an upstairs nightclub, the Pagoda Rooms, and stayed at the centre of the town’s youth and music scene until the late 1970s.
It was relaunched as The Buccaneer, a bar the council says was once described as “the beating heart of the community”.
In almost 100 years on the corner it has been a café, an ice cream parlour, a nightclub and a bar.
How a demolition plan became a restoration
The Buccaneer closed in 2024 after its owner sought permission to knock it down. The Welsh Government then bought it so the site could become part of the council’s waterfront regeneration plans.
The Buccaneer with its shutters down in 2024, the year it closed (Image: Roger Butler)Cllr Colin Davies, the council’s cabinet member for regeneration and housing, said: “The Buccaneer has had a long and colourful association with Porthcawl, and we want that to continue with the venue once more becoming an iconic seafront landmark and a stand-out part of our plans to regenerate the waterfront area.”
He said the way the council and Welsh Government planned to restore it “offers a taste of how we are approaching the overall waterfront regeneration”, adding: “Retaining and restoring this building to its former glory can only be a positive move for Porthcawl.”
The rescue comes under the reshaped seafront masterplan unveiled last November, redrawn after residents pushed back on earlier designs.
That plan also put Sandy Bay beach back into public ownership, with surf lessons and outdoor fitness sessions promised.
An artist’s impression of the restored Buccaneer looking out over Sandy Bay (Image: Bridgend County Borough Council)Related stories from Swansea Bay News
PORTHCAWL: ‘Porthcawl Eye’ big wheel opens over the seafront for the summer holidays
The summer funfair, and the council’s confirmation that the Beachcomber would come down.
Porthcawl seafront plans scaled back after resident pressure
The reshaped masterplan that put Sandy Bay back into public ownership.
PORTHCAWL: Tower crane rises over the Grand Pavilion as the rebuild begins
The town’s other 1930s seafront landmark, and its £22m restoration.
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