The owner of Marco’s Cafe, made famous in iconic sitcom Gavin and Stacey, has said the show’s success had led to his family business ‘taking over’ Barry Island.
Marco Zeraschi , who also appeared briefly in the show, said fans from all around the world visit to see the sights featured in the series, including his cafe where Stacey worked and Nessa’s arcade.
The businessman now has a monopoly in the Welsh seaside town, owning coffee shops, burger bar, ice cream parlour as well as a souvenir shop, perfect for fans of the BBC show.
Marco recalled how he was approached by a production company back in 2006 who offered to pay him to keep his business open for filming during the winter months, gushing he had no idea that ‘couple of hundred quid’ would change his life.
Barry Island has become such a popular destination that Prince William and Princess Kate even visited back in 2020, followed a year later by then PM Boris Johnson.
Marco told The Sun: ‘What Gavin and Stacey has done is put Barry Island, everyone knows it now, and it shows it as a really positive, funny place to live, it’s given it this ambience’.
The owner of Marco’s Cafe, made famous in iconic sitcom Gavin and Stacey, has said the show’s success had led to his family business ‘taking over’ Barry Island
Marco Zeraschi said fans from all around the world visit to see the sights featured in the series, including his cafe where Stacey worked and Nessa’s arcade
The businessman (pictured) now has a monopoly in the Welsh seaside town, owning coffee shops, burger bar, ice cream parlour as well as a souvenir shop, perfect for fans of the show
‘People from all over the world come here because of the show, Australians absolutely love it and thousands have come to Barry to see where it was filmed’.
He also revealed that creator and star Ruth Jones even auctions chances to have a coffee with her at Marco’s for charity.
But it’s Larry Lamb, who plays Mick Shipman, that is back in Barry most and usually for a dip in the freezing cold ocean.
‘Larry Lamb comes down here to go cold water swimming. He always sits and signs autographs and has pictures taken.
It comes after a Gavin & Stacey finale script signed by the show’s cast raised a jaw-dropping £50,510 for charity.
The script was donated by actor Robert Wilfort – who plays Stacey’s brother Jason – for a £5-a-ticket raffle.
Proceeds from the draw went to Buckinghamshire-based Theatre Shed which professionally led performing arts workshops.
So many people tried to take part the charity’s website struggled to cope with the demand. A total of 4,500 tickets were sold.
Marco said: ‘What Gavin and Stacey has done is put Barry Island, everyone knows it now, and it shows it as a really positive, funny place to live, it’s given it this ambience’
Marco recalled how he was approached by a production company who offered to pay him to keep his business open for filming during the winter months, gushing he had no idea that ‘couple of hundred quid’ would change his life
‘People from all over the world come here because of the show, Australians absolutely love it and thousands have come to Barry to see where it was filmed’
He also revealed that creator and star Ruth Jones (pictured in the show) even auctions chances to have a coffee with her at Marco’s for charity.
But it’s Larry Lamb, who plays Mick Shipman, that is back in Barry most and usually for a dip in the freezing cold ocean
Speaking about the donation, Robert said: ‘I knew it would be popular, to put it mildly. I thought it would be good to do something with that popularity.’
‘There’s a fantastic charity near to me, I’ve had a long association with them, so I got in touch and said, ‘Shall we raffle off the script?”.
‘Raising money like this is so imperative to help us keep going. We don’t get statutory funding and it’s been a tough year for us as a small charity.’
The Theatre Shed’s Alice Connor said: ‘Raising money like this is so imperative to help us keep going.
‘We don’t get statutory funding and it’s been a tough year for us as a small charity.’
The Gavin & Stacey finale pulled in a staggering 12.5million viewers – the highest Christmas Day TV audience in 16 years.
Viewers finally saw Nessa (Ruth Jones) and Smithy (James Corden) tie the knot in the highly anticipated conclusion.
The Christmas special and finale came five years after the show’s last Christmas instalment in 2019.
Viewers had been waiting to learn the fate of the BBC sitcom’s beloved characters and see if Smithy had accepted Nessa’s proposal.
The final episode was hailed ‘perfect’ by viewers, who were left in tears as the long-running show finally aired its last episode after 17 years.
While fans tuned into the episode to see whether Smithy had accepted Nessa’s proposal from the 2019 Christmas Special, a five-year time jump revealed that he was indeed set to tie the knot, but all was not as it seemed.
Barry Island has become such a popular destination that Prince William and Princess Kate even visited back in 2020 (Marco pictured meeting the Royals)
Followed a year later by then PM Boris Johnson who served ice cream
The Gavin & Stacey finale pulled in a staggering 12.5million viewers – the highest Christmas Day TV audience in 16 years
It was revealed that Smithy had instead got engaged to his girlfriend Sonia, who failed to impress the Shipman/West clan when she met them in the last festive episode.
Fans were also treated to the surprise return of Sheridan Smith as Smithy’s sister Rudi, and Pam Ferris as his mum Cath.
Yet when it came to Smithy’s big day he realised that Nessa was his one true love and called off the wedding.
The entire family jumped into Dave’s coach and rushed to Southampton, where Nessa was preparing to set sail, and in a scene 17 years in the making, he declared his love for her, and asked her to reconsider leaving.
While an ever-stoic Nessa insisted she wouldn’t propose to Smithy again, instead he returned her offer from five years earlier, finally getting down on one knee and asking her to marry him.
The episode then cut to Smithy and Nessa exchanging their vows at long last in an intimate ceremony in Barry, with the series ending with an emotional montage of the family marking the occasion at The Dolphin pub, before posing for a family snap together.