Cardiff city centre Totally Explained

Everything about Cardiff City Centre totally explained

Cardiff city centre is a large and sprawling area that spreads out from Butetown in the south to Cathays Park in the north, and from Canton and Grangetown in the west to Adamsdown in the east. However the principal shopping streets in Cardiff are Queen Street, which provides connections to the major shopping arcades of the St. David's Centre, Queens Arcade and the smaller Capitol Centre, and St. Mary's Street, which is also known for its nightlife. There are also numerous arcades and alleys that house some more smaller, specialist shops. The city centre is going through a number of redevelopment projects that include the huge St. David's 2 project which will extend the shopping district southwards creating 100 new stores and a flagship John Lewis. Cardiff is expected to enter the top 5 of places to shop in the UK, upon completion of the St. David's 2 development, behind only the West End of London and Glasgow.
Some of the main streets are:

Queen Street and vicinity

Queen Street (Welsh: Heol y Frenhines), after which a railway station is named (which is actually on Station Terrace), is the main pedestrianised shopping street in the city. Originally called Crockherbtown, the street was renamed in honour of Queen Victoria in 1886. The junctions at either end of the street look somewhat distorted, since until 1974 vehicular traffic was permitted along its length. It meets Dumfries Place/Newport Road at its eastern end, Duke Street at its western, and Park Place approximately half-way along. Further down Park Place is the New Theatre, Cathays Park and a number of buildings owned by Cardiff University (most notably, several entire terraces). A local landmark is Principality House, head office of the Principality Building Society. To the north, running parallel, is Greyfriars Road (the name refers to the site of an old monastery), a traditional office location that has recently seen conversion to bars, apartments and hotels as offices move to the new business parks on the edge of the city, or to the better connected southern end of the city centre.

St. Mary Street and the vicinity

St. Mary Street (Heol Eglwys Fair) and High Street (Heol Fawr). The former street is named after the 11th century church of St. Mary, the largest in Cardiff until it was destroyed by the Bristol Channel floods of 1607. Today the stretch of road is the home of a number of bars, night clubs and restaurants, including the Cardiff Hard Rock Cafe, as well as branches of many major banks. Also fronting onto the street is Howells department store, which stretches from just after the market building to the corner of Wharton Street. As of August 2007 the street was closed to private vehicles and only buses and taxis are allowed access to the whole street. The street is usually closed to all traffic on Friday and Saturday nights, to allow the efflux from night clubs and pubs located in that part of the street to clear. It is seen as a challenge to have a pint and a shot in every pub/bar on the right side of Saint Mary Street. The Prince Of Wales (a J D Wetherspoon establishment) is a particular problem, both due to its high capacity, and its main frontage onto Wood Street (which stays open). At the northern end of the street is Castle Street, site of Cardiff Castle. To the south is Cardiff Central station.
Caroline Street is a major link between two of the busiest streets (St Mary Street and the Hayes). The street has been a host to all kinds of stores but, more recently, has been taken over by chip and kebab shops, and as such is commonly known as Chip Row, Chip Alley, or Chippy Lane. This resulted in the street's busiest hours being between 11pm and 2am: popular among the post-pub and club crowd, often leaving the street looking like a sea of polystyrene containers. Around 2003, the north side of the street was redeveloped after the demolition of the old Brains Brewery: in its place were luxury flats encircling the Old Brewery Quarter, where new shops and eateries were erected. The pavement on the street was re-tiled as part of this development - the south side of the street remains largely "unspoiled" by improvements.

The Hayes

The Hayes (Yr Aes) is where the department store Howells, David Morgan, Spillers Records, St David's Hall and elegant Victorian arcades are found.

Newport Road

This major road leading East from the city centre towards the neighbouring city of Newport has been one of the prime office locations of central Cardiff since the 1960s. Some of the original buildings have recently been converted from office use to residential (for example The Aspect, Admiral House) or hotel use including the MacDonald Holland House. Occupancy of the remaining commercial property has increased, reflecting a shortage of office space in the city and there's now little scope for further conversion.

Custom House Street/Bute Terrace/Adam Street

These two roads have traditionally formed the southern and south-eastern boundaries of the central business district of Cardiff, and in recent years have seen a great deal of new development with much due in the next few years. Recent developments such as the 23 story Altolusso apartment complex, and the Big Sleep Hotel are set to be joined by (from west to east), a new 11 story office building (on the site of the old Central Hotel - destroyed by fire in the early 2000s); the Meridian Gate development (consisting of 11-story apartment block and a 20-story Radisson SAS Hotel); a new John Lewis department store as part of the St. David's 2 shopping expansion; Harlech Court (consisting of apartments and a rooftop restaurant); the University of Glamorgan's new ATRiuM campus along with the 21-story Ty Pont Haearn student halls; and 3 further residential towers (of up to 13 stories) with lower floor retail and commercial use.

Callaghan Square

A relatively new addition to the city centre, this development (started in 1999) extends the central business district south of the mainline railway. Eventually the main development will include approximately 500,000 square feet (46,000 m²) of office space, of which approximately 175,000 square feet (16,000 m²) is complete (housing Eversheds, Allied Irish Bank and ING Direct) and a further 190,000 square feet (18,000 m²) is under construction on a speculative basis. The initial masterplan suggest that the final phase, yet to be commenced, will also include hotel and residential use; this may be useful in increasing pedestrian footflow on the square itself which is currently underused and rather windswept. Nearby offices on Tresillian Way (housing The AA, and Lloyds TSB Black Horse finance amongst others) plus further potential developments have turned the area relatively quickly into one of the largest office locations in central Cardiff; within a few years total office space in the area will exceed 1 million square feet (90,000 m²).

Wood Street

Wood Street is home to Cardiff Central Bus and Railway Stations and has bus stands running along the length of the street as well. It is also a gateway to the Millennium Stadium. Although there aren't many shops here, there's the large Vue cinema, next to the stadium and the tall Southgate House which houses the Cardiff offices for the Armed Forces.

Transport in the city centre

All Cardiff Bus services run through the city centre, approaching from the west along either Tudor Street or Westgate Street, from the north along North Road or Newport Road, from the east along Newport Road and from the south along Callaghan Square. Services either terminate or pass through Cardiff central bus station on Wood Street which is currently being redeveloped. Other major interchanges include The Hayes, Dumfries Place, Westgate Street, Greyfriars Road and St. Mary Street, with taxi stands being located next to most of these.
The city centre is served by two railway stations, Cardiff Queen Street and Cardiff Central, the latter of which being the largest and located next to Central bus station forming an interchange.
City centre taxis which can be hailed are usually, but not always, black with a white bonnet or hackney carriages.

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