There’s a lot of revitalization happening in Cardiff, Wales these days. So much that we’ve got two articles about Cardiff in this issue. This one focused on the High Street. The other article is a 30-year retrospective of how the entire waterfront came to be redeveloped.
The High Street (what Americans call “main street”) of Cardiff has felt a bit neglected in recent years with a number of chain restaurants moving out of the area.
But now, the area—while still home to a couple of empty shops—has seen a resurgence in eateries and that is continuing throughout this summer.
For example, two new cocktail establishments, Pennyroyal and The Libertine, are opening right next to each other.
Pennyroyal is run by experienced bar tenders Alex and Jamie who have approximately 18 years mixology experience between them. The pair renovated the whole venue by themselves, and aim is to educate drinkers so that they understand what they’re drinking, not just to order “something with vodka or strawberries“.
All this comes on top of recently-announced plans to transform the Capitol Shopping Centre, in the center of Cardiff, into a new mixed-use retail and leisure destination, with a high rise apartment block above it.
The retail center has suffered in recent years following the opening of the nearby St. David’s Shopping Centre. But now its owner, NewRiver, is seeking to bring forward multi-million pound plans to rejuvenate the center.
Their website says say “We plan to revive the centre as a mixed-use retail and leisure destination and construct 100 apartments in the air space above the centre.”
It’s all a pretty exciting time for High Street and the city center, and we can’t wait to see what happens next down there.
Renderings courtesy of NewRiver.