Buffalo Bar is returning to its former glory days on Windsor Place. Cocktail connoisseur Alexander Taylor has taken the space previously occupied by his Japanese restaurant Koi No Yokan - which before that was the site of iconic music venue also named Buffalo - and transformed it into an intimate, homey watering hole. The bar will pay homage to and take inspiration from its namesake, which was forced to closed in 2019 due to rising costs.
Alex owns the building at 11 Windsor Place in which lies the newly opened and refreshed gig space Buffalo Bar (upstairs) and High Street's Pennyroyal (which has just been named as one of the UK's top 50 cocktail bars). He bought the building early last year with plans to divide the two floors into a music venue upstairs and a separate restaurant downstairs. However, after only six months, Koi was forced to close - read more on that here.
However, this closure did not dampen Alex's spirits as he got to work on a new incarnation of the space, leaning into the building's history. He says he feels relieved the space has made its way back to the type of establishment that the people of Cardiff once knew and hopes this will attract customers.
This new venture will be named Buffalo Lounge and is set to open to the public on Thursday, February 23 after "a long seven weeks".
"It's been chaos," he said. "But it looks ready."
He added: "I've got to be honest, I'm sitting here right now and I'm looking around with just a massive amount of relief. This feels better. I mean, even me walking in here when it was Koi, I looked at it like it was Buffalo with a different costume on. The space... it suits it now. Obviously all the work we did to get Koi open means that the actual building is now in a lot better state.
"All we really did was we spoke to a lot of local graffiti artists and we had a lot of help from local DJs and sound tech and my event manager from upstairs helped me out massively and my bar manager. Basically with absolutely no budget, we've just completely changed the vibe in here."
As for his vision, he tells us that the interior has been "given a good amount of a facelift" - referencing the design of the first generation Buffalo Bar.
"There's still undertones of the old Buffalo, in terms of what we have on taps, what we've done with the cocktail menu, and the offers we've got on. We've brought back the tiles. But we've also added certain things."
He's referring to the addition of a pool table at the front of the building and different lighting towards the back so that "it's got a good vibe when we have DJs". He adds: "If Buffalo was open now, this is what I think they would have done."
He likens the original bar and another which he used to manage - 10 Feet Tall - to walking into a house party and hopes that his reincarnation of Buffalo will take inspiration from that and make people feel at home.
Another nod to the building's former tenant is happy hour - between 5pm and 7pm and 10pm-12am - something we have no doubt the people of Cardiff will love. Every week, foodies can enjoy grub from different guest traders in the kitchen. Its first is hot sauce aficionado Reaper, which catered for the venue's fundraising event held some weeks ago after Koi closed to generate funds (via on door donations and drinks sales) for the site's reawakening.
Alex is also planning for bottomless brunches and Sunday discounts in future.
As for what's inside, he explains that he has decorated the space with 'tags' and graffiti-inspired artwork.
"It's all very bright and 'in-your-face' to be honest. It's a nice sort of vibe in here, especially when the sun sets," Alex said.
In the summer, he has hopes of inviting local artists also to inject some life back into the old mural on the outside wall in the alleyway next to Buffalo that is "very much crumbling now".
"As much as we want to keep that, I think we're going to give that a bit of a facelift as well."
Beer garden lovers will also be pleased to know that the outdoor space has remained and has kept some remenants of its former life as Koi, with local artist Richard Gaskell's dragon mural staying in the garden.
Buffalo Lounge will open to the public on Thursday, February 23. and will be open Monday - Sunday.
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