Parc Tawe is a retail park and leisure area in Swansea

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. It is located in the eastern area of the city centre

Swansea city centre

Swansea city centre in Swansea, Wales, contains the main shopping, leisure and nightlife district in Swansea. The city centre covers much of the Castle ward including the area around Oxford Street, Castle Square, and the Quadrant Shopping Centre; Alexandra Road, High Street, Wind Street and the...

 on the west bank of the River Tawe

River Tawe

The River Tawe is a river in South Wales. It flows in a principally south-westerly direction for some from its source below Moel Feity in the Old Red Sandstone hills of the western Brecon Beacons to the Bristol Channel at Swansea. Its main tributaries are the right bank Upper and Lower Clydach...

 in the Lower Swansea valley

Lower Swansea valley

The Lower Swansea valley is the lower half of the valley of the River Tawe in south Wales. It runs from approximately the level of Clydach down to Swansea docks, where it opens into Swansea Bay and the Bristol Channel...

.

The area includes "out-of-town" style stores with car parks located outside the shopping area. A highly visible building in the area is the Plantasia

Plantasia

The Plantasia is a large public hothouse located in the Parc Tawe retail park, Swansea, Wales.- Exhibits :It exhibits a wide range of tropical plants and insects. It opened in 1990....

 - a large triangular tropical plant house. Entertainment in the area include a 10 screen Odeon

Odeon Cinemas

Odeon Cinemas is a British chain of cinemas, one of the largest in Europe. It is owned by Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group whose ultimate parent is Terra Firma Capital Partners.-History:Odeon Cinemas was created in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch...

 cinema

Movie theater

A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

 and a ten pin bowling alley.

The area occupied by Parc Tawe was once the North Dock. The North dock was opened in 1852 becoming the first dock in the Swansea docks

Swansea docks

Swansea Docks is the collective name for several docks in Swansea, Wales. The Swansea docks are located immediately south east of Swansea city centre. In the mid-19th century the port was exporting 60% of the world's copper from factories situated in the Tawe valley...

 complex. During the 1930s changes in methods of working, reduced trade and the increasing size of ships led to the North Dock being closed and subsequently filled in. For decades the North dock area was an industrial wasteland, until re-development as a shopping complex in the late 1980s.

Parc Tawe is divided into two shopping areas separated by the road linking the Parc Tawe Bridge with Strand Row: the original Parc Tawe area and the newer Parc Tawe North. Units located in Parc Tawe include Pizza Paradise, Joe's Ice Cream, Toys 'R' Us, Staples and Mothercare World

Mothercare

Mothercare plc is a British retailer which specialises in products for expectant mothers and in general merchandise for children up to 8 years old. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...

. Retailers in Parc Tawe North include Homebase

Homebase

Homebase is a British home improvement store and garden centre, with 350 stores across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is well known by its green and orange colour scheme. Together with its sister company Argos , it forms part of Home Retail Group. Homebase recorded sales figures...

, Lidl

Lidl

Lidl is a discount supermarket chain based in Germany that operates over 7,200 stores across Europe. The company's full name is Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG...

, Outfit, JJB Sports

JJB Sports

JJB Sports plc is a United Kingdom sports retailer. It currently operates 251 stores in the UK and Ireland.- History :The sportshop chain was founded in 1971, when ex-footballer Dave Whelan acquired a single sports shop in Wigan. The original store was established by JJ Broughton in the early...

, JD Sports

JD Sports

JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as just JD, is a sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England with shops throughout the United Kingdom and with one in Ireland...

, ...instore

...instore

...instore was a chain of retail stores in the United Kingdom selling a range of products and principally concentrating on value home-ware items....

and Pets At Home.