Â鶹Éç

Originally located in Castle Street, the Kardomah Café was frequented in the 1930s by poet Dylan Thomas and his artistic contemporaries known as the Kardomah Gang; this original version of the establishment was destroyed during wartime bombing in February 1941.

Its new incarnation on Portland Street was a haunt well known to Doctor Who showrunner Russell T Davies during his teenage years growing up in Swansea. In 2009, one of the key scenes in his scripts for the tenth Doctor's final story - The End Of Time - was filmed there.

Easter Monday 2009 found David Tennant and Bernard Cribbins as the Doctor and Wilf Mott engaged in unsettling discussions inside the café itself, while outside on the kerbside, Catherine Tate was venting her wrath - in character as Donna Noble - on a luckless traffic warden who had dared to try to ticket her car.

The recording was covered by various papers, with the South Wales Evening Post running an item that evening, and following it up next day with a story headlined 'Café serves up a treat for Doctor Who fans'. Caroline Thomas, who had been working in the Kardomah kitchens, commented: "We knew they were filming Doctor Who but we had no idea which actors would arrive, so everyone was so excited when David Tennant walked in. And then later on Catherine Tate turned up too and I thought, wow! I couldn't believe it."

Episode synopsis: The End Of Time

The Doctor's failure to respond to the summons of the Ood allows his arch-enemy the Master to resurrect himself, but in a feral, dying, skeletal state. Kidnapped by the wealthy Joshua Naismith who believes that he can bestow the gift of immortality on his daughter, the Master hatches a plan to turn all humanity into versions of himself. The Doctor and Wilf Mott battle to foil his scheme as events spiral out of control and the Time Lords on Gallifrey are called back into existence.

Return to the Doctor Who in Wales map.