Help Paradise Garden stay on 213 City Road

Aim

Our sub-lease has come to an end and in order to stay, we need your help!

As many of you know, PG started as a 3 month pop-up in October 2022. We were brought in during an interim period to program some events, try out our venue concept and fill the space before another business took over the building. 

We had an overwhelmingly positive reception and managed to hang on for another 3 months. From there, we invested in a sub-lease allowing us to stay until the end of April 2026. 

That lease is now coming to an end.

After a long period of negotiation and careful planning, we’ve been offered the chance to secure a brand new lease directly with the landlord. Having already invested so much into the space and truly making it our own, this is an exciting opportunity to secure a future for PG - it does however come with some significant upfront costs which we can’t cover alone. 

We’ll continue trading as normal while the lease is finalised and we work to raise the funds needed to secure our future.

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PG’s journey so far

In just three and a half years, Paradise Garden has established itself as an essential intimate grassroots music venue and creative hub in Cardiff, nestling naturally into the Welsh music ecosystem.

In that short time, we’ve managed to achieve a lot…

• Hosted around 850 live gigs, DJ events, and community-led gatherings, the vast majority being free entry.
• Given space to many first-time gigs and DJ sets.
• What was once our kitchen, currently houses Radio SUDD - a fantastic bi-lingual Welsh community radio station.
• Provided free space for charities such as Help Musicians, Chin Up, MEND and many more.
• Launched initiatives such as Blwm - DJ workshops for aspiring FLINTA* DJs.
• Became the home of collectives, charities, and communities including women’s social support charity Chin Up, jazz collectives Outer Worlds and Bamzu, producer meet up Beat Science, and electronic open mic night Plug Jam.
• Provided a location for many film projects and documentaries including BBC’s Black Music Wales documentary hosted by L E M F R E C K.
• Produced larger external events at The Gate and Jacob’s Market, with artists such as Kelly Moran and Tash LC.
• Invited internationally respected artists to our intimate space including Luke Una, Bradley Zero, and The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

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Why we need support now

Like many grassroots venues, we operate on extremely tight margins and run much like a not-for-profit business. That means even small cashflow disruptions can create serious financial pressure.

Last year, after a quieter-than-usual summer and several weeks of closure during one of our busiest months for essential building maintenance, we were left carrying significant debt.

We shared a message across our socials with the hope of boosting attendance and since then we have been super busy - it really showed us that people cared about what we do and it meant the world seeing everyone show up.

Since then we’ve worked hard to strengthen the business, streamlining what we do, getting a better balance of events throughout the week and reducing costs in any way we can - this has meant we’ve made some great headway with clearing that debt hanging over us from 2025.

We’ve also been fortunate to receive capital support from Cardiff Council and the Welsh Government. While that funding doesn’t help with general cashflow challenges, it has allowed us to improve equipment and enhance the experience for audiences and performers in our venue.

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Help us to keep PG going

Paradise Garden has become a truly special place thanks to the community that surrounds us, our hard working team and the promoters and performers who we host week after week.

We are throwing a big weekend party across the 24th, 25th and 26th April and have invited twenty five amazing local DJs to soundtrack from doors open until close on each day.

There are no tickets for these events and you are welcome to dip in for a quick drink, or stay for the whole thing - just be sure to get down early as we’ll likely hit capacity early on. We’ll be asking for a donation to this crowdfunder on entry with contributions on a pay what you can basis. 

We will also be sharing this crowdfunder online for people to make donations from afar if you can’t make it to one of these events.

Our aim is to raise £20,000 which is the cost of the new lease. If we surpass this, any additional money will go towards the legal costs and maintenance costs associated with taking over a new lease and to help us chip away at the last of our 2025 debt.

And for every donation of £25 or more, we will add your name to a special ‘PG wall of legends’ in the venue as a thank you <3

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If this space has ever meant something to you, you’ve attended one of our many free events, if you’ve discovered an artist here, danced here, met people here, or just believe Cardiff needs independent cultural spaces like this to exist, please support us if you’re able to.

Every donation, every share, and every bit of attendance makes a huge difference.

Help us keep Paradise Garden at 213 City Road! :)

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 14th July 2026 at 12:56am