Kardomah Cafe

The Kardomah is a 1950s-style cafe with formica tables, dark wood panelling and a menu of teas, coffees, scones, sausage rolls and full Welsh breakfasts at very gentle prices. The crowd is mostly local and older, but younger fans of Dylan Thomas turn up too.

It is the last branch of what was once a chain of more than fifty Kardomah Coffee Houses across Britain. As a piece of mid-century cafe culture it is hard to beat; come for breakfast, take a window seat, and watch Swansea go by.

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A story
The original Kardomah, bombed flat in 1941, was where Dylan Thomas met regularly with the poet Vernon Watkins, composer Daniel Jones and a circle of fellow Swansea artists they called 'The Kardomah Boys'. The current cafe — on Portland Street, a short walk from the original site — is the last surviving outlet of the once-national chain.

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