Author: Rhys Gregory

Swansea Grand Theatre and producers, Imagine Theatre, bring the classic fairy tale story to the stage for this year’s Christmas pantomime. The French story itself has been around for hundreds of years, but arguably made famous by Disney’s animated film in 1992. Although the storyline has been adapted over the years, it loosely remains the same. There is a selfish prince, who gets turned into a beast, and the only way for him to redeem himself is to earn the love and trust of someone, all before the final petal falls from a rose. For this year’s pantomime, Associate Producer…

Families, friends and colleagues have joined together in Cardiff for a special lights show where they were supported to ‘light up the lives’ of the ones they miss. More than 200 guests including the Right Honourable Lord Mayor of Cardiff and Lady Mayoress Councillor Graham Hinchey and Mrs Anne Hinchey, families and members of the community enjoyed a series of special performances by local ensembles and musicians. Every year City Hospice invites supporters to remember and celebrate lives of loved ones during their Light up a Life campaign. This includes attending events like its annual Remembrance Service and, new for…

The Royal Victoria in Prestatyn reopened over the weekend following a combined investment of over £185,000 from leading community pub company, Admiral Taverns, and brand-new licensees, Sean Thomas and Debra Gee. Together with Admiral Taverns, the passionate licensees have worked hard to breathe a new lease of life into the pub ahead of the festive period. Throughout the refurbishment process, Debra and Sean have been meticulous in making sure they respect The Royal Victoria’s history and tradition by retaining its more characterful, traditional features, whilst enhancing the overall look and feel with brand-new, modern furniture and fixtures. Inside, the pub…

Yellow Sub Geo Ltd has secured a significant new investment from private investors and the Development Bank of Wales to support the launch and growth of its Yellow Sub Hydro digital water technology business. The new investment will support the development and further commercialisation of Yellow Sub Hydro’s Periscope product. Periscope is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) modelling environment which provides simulations for water resource management at catchment scale. Combining the power of cloud computing with applied mathematics, hydrology and data science, Periscope enables catchment-scale water modelling setup and cycle times to be drastically reduced from years to days. It has been…

Fast-growing MSP Flotek has announced it has acquired Swansea-based business Cloud9ine Communications Limited, continuing its rapid expansion across the Welsh and South West markets. Marking a third acquisition in just six months, the deal will enhance Flotek’s telecom offering by enabling a larger engineering technical team and bring further resource for WiFi, Data Cabling, CCTV, and AV. Cloud9ine Communications was formed by Phillip Emanuel in 2018 and is included within the NHS Framework as an approved supplier for Data Cabling Networks and a HM Government Approved G-Cloud Supplier. The business is renowned amongst its public sector clients, delivering comprehensive data…

Tesla has opened a new Supercharger site in Wales, located at the Celtic Manor Resort on Chepstow Road in Newport. The Newport Superchargers will be open 24/7 to both Tesla and non-Tesla owners as part of the Non-Tesla Supercharger Pilot. The site can be easily accessed from the M4 and hosts 12 V3 Supercharger stalls which add up to 75 miles of charge in five minutes and charge at rates of up to 1,000 miles per hour.  The ongoing expansion of the Supercharger network will ensure that Tesla drivers are able to quickly, seamlessly and reliably charge their vehicles. As…

An award-winning North Wales design and engineering company has landed a deal to become an exclusive supplier for aerospace giant, Airbus. Wrexham-based Air Covers, which specialises in designing and manufacturing protective covers for both civil and military aircraft, boats and vehicles, has been selected as the custom protection cover supplier for Airbus’ newly launched H145D3 helicopter thanks to Welsh Government support. The Welsh company will be the sole provider of protective covers for the new aircraft, which is fast becoming the aircraft of choice for emergency medical services, police and utility operators across the world due to its fuel-efficiency and…

A Welsh Community Bank has broken its monthly lending record making more loans than ever to its Members. In November, Smart Money Cymru lent £566,000, widening access to fair and affordable finance for its almost 11,000 Members in the Valleys and around Wales. As well as breaking the previous monthly total of £507,000,  128 new customers joined the Community Bank in that month, also setting a record. Mark White, Smart Money Cymru CEO, said he was delighted that in these difficult times, when many families and individuals are struggling with bills and the cost of Christmas, more people were seeing…

James Chant’s traditional Japanese Ramen restaurant is taking the Cardiff food scene by storm after his assemble-at-home DIY ramen kits gained critical acclaim from culinary heroes including Jay Rayner, Tom Parker Bowles, Melissa Thompson and Pippa Middlehurst. Based in the former NatWest bank on Clare Road in Grangetown, Matsudai Ramen opened its doors in August 2022. The 1700 sq ft building has been kitted out with a £50,000 micro loan from the Development Bank of Wales. Matsudai Ramen first started life in September 2019; initially as a pop-up and creative outlet for founder James Chant, who at that point had…

A 24-year-old entrepreneur from Cardiff is in the process of launching a first-of-its-kind virtual booking service app with the hope of being just in time to support the hospitality sector this festive season. QZee, an abbreviation of ‘queue easy’, was developed by Cameron Calder, a computer science graduate from Swansea University and Max Sugar, software engineering graduate, also from Swansea University, as a response to the surge in cancellations and no-shows that hit the UK’s hospitality sector during the pandemic, estimated to cost businesses £17.6 billion a year. Operating out of Cardiff’s Tramshed, QZee is working collectively with businesses and…