Most people weren’t thinking about opening restaurants in the middle of the Covid lockdown, but Chris Hardie was, and it didn’t go down that well.
“I was coming up to 40 and was locked down due to Covid with a young family,” said Chris. “I just had the idea that I wanted to do something. My family and friends thought I was mental to take this on during Covid. Some of them thought it was the wrong time. But I think it’s the right time because people want to come out now.”
As important as Chris’s success is to him, it’s also important to Carmarthen, where he’s decided to open his new business.
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Carmarthen has been hit as hard as any Welsh town in the past 18 months, with several high street brands vanishing.
Since March, 2020, big names – meant to pull people into the town from elsewhere – have gone, including Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge, River Island, Fat Face, and Monsoon. Game has also closed, as has Burger King, meaning a growing number of empty spaces lining the streets and shopping centres. The biggest shop in the town, Debenhams, closed in May after more than a decade as the flagship store of the St Catherine’s Walk shopping centre.
Efforts are being made to rectify the problem. Local independent business owners are being given the opportunity to relocate to bigger and more prominent locations, something that would not have been possible pre-Covid, while just last week Carmarthenshire Council announced plans to fill the Topshop unit in St Catherine’s Walk with a pop-up store full of local businesses for two weeks in August.
So, there is a hope that the future is bright, and that the future is independent. You can read more about this hope here.
King Street in the centre of Carmarthen
(Image: Ashley Crowden/Athena Pictures)
The street will be home to a new restaurant from next weekend
(Image: Ashley Crowden/Athena Pictures)
One area of Carmarthen that’s always had a certain aura is King Street, in the centre of town. There are hardly any chain stores here, just quirky and local shops and businesses. But, everything has a knock-on effect, and the emptying of high-street units in one spot creates a problem in another. Some shops have closed, some have moved, and the day-time pedestrianisation of the street remains, to say the least, controversial.
That’s for another day. For now, there are units to be filled.
One that has is the former Me & Luce women’s clothing store – which has since relocated to St Catherine’s Walk in the space vacated by River Island. In its place, as of next Friday, will be Tŷ Tân – Chris’s new restaurant focusing on “back to basics” cooking. Meat and fire, with cocktails.
Chef Chris is originally from Manchester and relocated more than six years ago to start a new life in west Wales with his fiancée.
Chris Hardie made the decision to open a restaurant as he, like everyone else, was trying to come to terms with lockdown
(Image: Ashley Crowden/Athena Pictures)
It’s a project he’s very passionate about
(Image: Ashley Crowden/Athena Pictures)
“I’ve worked in kitchens and cooked in the Manchester and Shropshire areas, and I’ve run a pub, but I came out of the industry for a while,” said Chris. “My fiancée had a baby who is now two, and during the Covid pandemic I had the idea of opening Tŷ Tân.
“The concept is back to basics – cooking on coal. It’s just meat and fire, there’s no gas or electric oven, just an Argentinian grill. Everything on the menu will be cooked on fire, and the flavours it will release will be like nothing you’ve tasted before.”
Chris is obsessed with cooking, and he’s also obsessed with opening his new restaurant. To begin with, he will open between Wednesday and Saturday with space for 32 guests at one time. The plan is to open upstairs in the coming months which will almost double the number of diners he can accommodate, while next summer he wants to open up the garden at the rear of the restaurant. He wants Tŷ Tân to be more than just somewhere people come for a quick bit to eat.
“We don’t want people to just eat their food and then we move them on,” he said. “We want them to stay. We’ll have music and cocktails and we want people to come here and enjoy themselves. I want this place to be a destination.”
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As is typical of King Street, everyone is looking out for each other. Everyone is running an independent business and they need each other to survive. All of Tŷ Tân’s meat is not just bought locally, it’s bought from the butcher shop 50 yards away.
“We want to use local stuff,” said Chris. “The fact that so many businesses here are still open after what they’ve been through is incredible. It’s such a quirky street, there are no chains, it’s all independents, and everyone is in the same boat trying to survive. The support we’ve had is amazing.”
‘I was coming up to 40 and just wanted to do something…..’
(Image: Ashley Crowden/Athena Pictures)
After a few setbacks, the restaurant opens in less than a week’s time
(Image: Ashley Crowden/Athena Pictures)
Despite the excitement that comes from getting the restaurant ready and honing a menu which includes dry aged Welsh steaks, burgers and flame-grilled chicken, Chris realises that he has taken the plunge to open a business at the exact time when many are struggling to stay above water.
Last March, one of the most popular restaurants in Carmarthenshire – Cafe at No4 – shut down. It represented a depressing start to a year from hell, and Chris’s original plan was to take over that spot, located in the adjoining Queen Street, a stone’s throw from where he is now based.
It wasn’t to be, and the idea of opening an independent restaurant during the hardest of times seemed to be getting harder.
“Fortune favours the brave, and the response I’ve had has been amazing – we are fully booked pretty much for the first few weeks. Everyone on King Street is really behind us. There are some empty shops here which is a shame but there is a real community feel on the street.”
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Behind the determination, there must be some trepidation, given the empty shops that one cannot ignore during a walk around Carmarthen town centre. But Chris insists that there will always be a call for good local food, and the fact that competition already exists within a mile radius does not put him off; in fact, he thinks it can only help Tŷ Tân.
“It is scary,” he admitted. “There’s a huge risk to it, but there’s a huge risk opening a restaurant at any time, and you’ve got to have confidence that it will work – we’ve got the right staff, the right produce and the right location.
“I don’t see any other restaurants as competition. We are unique with regards to what we can offer, and anyway I want more people to come into Carmarthen because that will benefit us and benefit everyone. If there aren’t enough places which attract people into Carmarthen then this area will be like a ghost town. I want more restaurants and bars here.”
Chris hopes the food he makes on his Argentinian grill can become renowned for its taste in Carmarthen…..
(Image: Ty Tân)
…..and further afield
(Image: Ty Tân)
Tŷ Tân opens its doors for the first time next Friday, and if Chris’s passion for his new venture is anything to go by, it will quickly become one of the go-to places to dine in Carmarthen and a staple of the town’s nightlife.
“I’m obsessed with everything I do here,” he said. “We’ve designed the layout in such a way that we’ll have an open kitchen – that way there’s a bit of theatre to it.
“People will be able to see the fire and see us cooking. You don’t get that in many places but I think it will add to the dining experience, and every plate that leaves the chef’s area has to be perfect.
“I don’t want to own 50 restaurants, I want to own one restaurant and I want it to be the best.”
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