Cardiff City Centre

The city centre in Cardiff is an area riddled with alleys and arcades, as well as a number of small shopping centres, including the Capitol, St. David’s Centre and Queen’s Arcade. Some of the main streets are:

Queen Street

Queen Street (Welsh: Heol y Frenhines), after which a local railway station is named (the station is actually on Station Street), 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 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.

St. Mary Street and the vicinity

St. Mary Street (Heol y Santes Fair) and High Street (Stryd 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 and restaurants, including the Cardiff Hard Rock Cafe, as well as branches of many major banks. It is usually closed south of the junction with Wood Street at weekends, to allow the efflux from night clubs and pubs located in that part of the street to clear. 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).

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 - but the south side of the street remains largely “unspoiled” by improvements.

The Hayes

Called Yr Aes in Welsh, this is where the local department store Howells (part of the House of Fraser group) can be found, and was previously the location of another department store, David Morgan. The record shop Spillers claims to be the oldest in the world, dating back to 1894, although it has only occupied its present premises on The Hayes since the 1940s. There is also the old library (now a pub and wine bar), and a statue of the anti-slavery campaigner John Batchelor. The Welsh Baptist chapel Tabernacl was first built in 1821 and remodelled to its current form by the architect John Hartland in 1865.

A well-known landmark both locally and nationally is St David’s Hall - a large concert hall and exhibition centre, which frequently houses major acts as well as opera productions by the Welsh National Opera company. Most famously, it is also home to the Cardiff Singer of the World competition.

This area is also famous for its elegant Victorian arcades which join some of the main streets. These include Castle Arcade, Queens Arcade, Duke Street Arcade and Morgan Arcade.