our story
The legacy of a Swells Restaurant in Terrigal began a little further down the street at 100 The Esplanade when local Judy Roffey opened Swells Cafe & Restaurant in 1985.
It was an instant success opening 7 days a week for 20 years until 2005 when sadly Judy had no choice but to close the doors due to redevelopment of the building.
Roll forward to 2020 when two mates, Brent Pilkington and Jamie Barnes decided to transform their upstairs offices into the best restaurant spot in Terrigal.
Brent and Jamie were delighted when Paul Hargreaves, a local highly regarded chef, agreed to come on board and head up the kitchen.
Whilst building the venue several people stopped by and asked if they were bringing Swells back to town? The owners decided that if Judy gave them their blessing the beautiful new restaurant would be also be called Swells. Fortunately Judy liked the idea and the rest is history - Swells Terrigal was back!
The restaurant reopened in November 2021. 3 years later it is going from strength to strength with Paul still at the helm in the kitchen leading a dedicated team of chefs.
Customers are looked after on the floor by locals favourite Hayden Smith who has also been with Swells since it reopened in 2021. Hayden loves his wine and is always ready to share his recommendations with you and your guests.
The owners and their team very much look forward to your visit and hope to see you soon.
These photos of the original Swells Cafe Restaurant in Terrigal were kindly supplied by the original creator and owner Judy Roffey. Judy is still a Terrigal resident and regular Swells customer.
These wonderful photos were taken in the late 80's and help us to remember why Swells #1 was such a popular restaurant for locals and visitors to Terrigal.
If you have any old Swells photos or Terrigal images from that period to help us build our gallery we would love to see them!
