A decade ago, fresh out of university, then 23-year-old Nick Saunders acquired an empty warehouse in Cardiff city centre and a temporary licence with the view of replicating the huge nightlife events held in his native Liverpool. Little did he know that in just 10-years the warehouse events and his company DEPOT would grow into a sprawling business which would eventually be one of the biggest in Wales.
Hosting some of the UKs biggest music artists, putting on gigs in iconic venue Cardiff Castle, welcoming hundreds of thousands of fans and partnering with Wales legend Gareth Bale to open a golf-themed bar were things of dreams.
And yet, as DEPOT celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2024, that is exactly Nick’s reality. As well as the annual DEPOT in the Castle festival, and DEPOT Live series, the company has recently announced it will be a part of a huge outdoor gig space in Blackweir Fields in the Welsh capital, with Kings of Leon already announced as the first huge headliner.
Despite his undoubted success in the events and food space (DEPOT are also behind Tiger Yard street food in Cardiff Bay), Nick seems almost unable to take it all in, always “looking ahead” as he puts it. It is a testament to the adopted Cardiffian’s attitude.
But it hasn’t been without its tests along the way, such as the time Nick ordered 500 bottles of Champagne for one of DEPOT’s New Year’s Eve events, only to still have dozens of bottles of it sitting in storage to this day. Or some of the business “risks” he took at the beginning that he said he wouldn’t replicate now.
Bolstered by these “risks and lessons” as Nick puts it, DEPOT is still going from strength to strength, and now plays a part in most of Cardiff’s biggest events, and employs dozens of full time staff. The original warehouse, which still hosts weekly events, has moved three times in ten years with DEPOT now operating from a 30,000 square-foot warehouse space, capable of hosting up to 2,100 guests.
Last year, between DEPOT in the Castle and Depot Live, Nick said the company held 18 gigs and welcomed over 170,000 fans to Cardiff Castle, with even more events planned across all sites – including Blackweir – for 2025.
Speaking on how DEPOT had grown in the last years, Nick said there had been plenty of “pinch me moments” He said “It’s incredible to look back and see how far we’ve come. DEPOT started as a temporary pop-up idea, and now it’s grown into something far bigger than I could have ever imagined, and the ‘pinch me’ moments have been numerous.”
Speaking about how DEPOT evolved from the warehouse to hosting events, he said “I think for us, one thing DEPOT has always been is inclusive for many different people and audiences. I think I’m very conscious that Cardiff is now a destination for people to come from outside of South Wales for concerts and events, but even when you think of that area you have to break up your market.”
While many founders of such a successful business would perhaps think about taking a step back, Nick still thrives off being at the centre of the action. He said he was at every live gig DEPOT held last year, and would be missing Glastonbury 2025 for the first time since he was 13 due to DEPOT’s schedule.
“I get such a buzz from doing these shows, there’s nothing quite like bringing people together, seeing them enjoy themselves and I truly feel privileged to be able to put on shows, especially in Cardiff Castle. It’s gone so quick. The years get quicker in the event world now I think because you’re always thinking it’s that event, then the next one, you can’t catch a breath and then suddenly it’s 10 years.
I still try to stick to the values that we’ve done since day one. And that’s if we’re going to do something, we do it properly. And you know, even when we’ve done events and potentially the ticket sales haven’t been where you want them to be, we still deliver on everything that we say we’re going to deliver. I think that’s what’s been crucial for us to maintain loyalty among people in Cardiff, but also to, you know, people who come to that show, whether that’s 400 people or for 35,000 people. We want to make sure everyone’s experience at one of our shows is what they want it to be.”
Reflecting on his highlights from the last decade, Nick said there had been some stand-out moments but he had never felt as confident and in control of the brand as he did now. “The huge day we opened DEPOT was a huge moment. Being 23, no idea what I was doing, and to have those first eight weeks that we did it on temporary and just having a buzz about it. It was just a genuine buzz and I wasn’t so focused at all about the business value at that point.
“Another was the first New Year’s Eve we did. I thought everyone would want champagne so ordered 500 bottles of champagne. Obviously everyone wanted Prosecco and I’d only ordered 80 bottles so the Prosecco sold out straight away. We’ve still got bottles of that champagne in our stores from years ago so I learned a quick lesson there.”
Since the end of the Coronavirus pandemic, DEPOT has gone from strength to strength. Due to the previous site’s ability to host outside events, DEPOT was one of the first places where, once again, people were allowed to socialise, as they launched their Street Food Festival, and FOALS playing at Cardiff Castle in August, 2021 was one of the first post-Covid music events in the country.
“Coming out of Covid and hosting Foals at the Castle was probably one of the most satisfying shows we have ever done. It was the first time I had put on a big artist with a huge agency which was quite a turning point for the business and for me personally. Yannis, who is the lead singer of Foals, came up to me afterwards and said: “That is one of the best shows we have ever played”. The energy in the crowd that night was emphatic.”
Despite DEPOT’s success, Nick said he was still constantly looking forward and knew how fickle the event and hospitality industry could be. He said: “You’re only as good as your last event but even to this day I am almost in imposter mode. You are always testing yourself. But over last summer, 18 shows, 170,000 people and doing it with confidence and making it feel like everything we did was under control and done correctly.
“There probably are an awful lot of moments [to reflect on] but I am always focusing on what’s next. We have a lot of loyalty with the audiences in Cardiff and outside now but it doesn’t take an awful lot for that to change.”
Here are some of DEPOT’s best photos from the last decade: