Cardiff bar operator Alex Taylor is to open a new bar in the city: Low Key.

A table-service cocktail bar based in a quiet Grade 2-listed arcade, Low Key is billed as a retreat from Cardiff’s bustling high streets and volume bars. It opens Thursday 12 June. 

Designed to have a “calm” atmosphere, the bar will see dimmed, “jazz bar-inspired lighting”, with music pitched - in volume and style - to match the energy of the room.

The ownership team also includes the bar's chef Tom Barber (formerly of Hiraeth and Heaney's), Ash Cilliers (ex Hyde & Co GM) and Patrick Fogarty (Dark Bars Ltd, ex-Dr Inks).

The menu is divided into thirds with Covers referring to house riffs on classics. The section includes a short format Hurricane (Mount Gay Eclipse, Clairin, Guanabana, strawberry, citrus).

Singles are Low Key's signatures and will include the Silk Sonic (Sipsmith gin, white Port, verbena, pear verjus) while Unplugged is the bar's no/low section which is priced affordably to encourage midweek drinkers. The section's Moon Grotto is Everleaf Forest, palo santo, tangerine and Schweppes soda.

The food menu will launch with Devilled Eggs, Ramencini and Passion Fruit Buffalo Chicken Bites, but will be extended after the opening period, with Sunday brunch also planned. 

Taylor, who formerly owned Pennyroyal in Cardiff,  told CLASS: “At at a time when bars are getting louder and more chaotic, Low Key is going to do the opposite. Regardless of what day you visit, you’ll avoid the peaks and troughs of Cardiff footfall with its huge event-laden calendar – at Low Key everything is designed to slow the pace of the day.

“The name Low Key isn’t just a wink to the Gen Z colloquialism, it’s a manifesto.”

Located on 3-7 Duke Street Arcade, Cardiff, CF10 1AZ, Low Key will initially open Thursday-Saturday, extending hours to include Sunday in the coming weeks.