Commercial Street is a 700-yard (660-metre) long main shopping street leading from the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

of Newport, South Wales.

History and description

Commercial Street and Commercial Road were created in 1810 across open pasture land which had to be raised several feet using ship ballast so that it no longer flooded at the high Spring tides. This was part of a plan by

Charles Morgan, 1st Baron Tredegar Charles Morgan Robinson Morgan, 1st Baron Tredegar (10 April 1792 – 16 April 1875), was a Welsh Whig peer and a member of the House of Lords. He was the son of Lt.-Col. Sir Charles Morgan, 2nd Baronet, and his wife, the former Mary Margare ...

to increase Newport's importance and develop his land; in 1807 he had granted a lease on 200 acres of land to allow the Tredegar Wharf Company to create the new mile-long road. The new road led approximately south-southeast from the junction with

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

(and

Westgate Hotel The Westgate Hotel, Commercial Street, Newport, Wales is a hotel building dating from the 19th century. On 4 November 1839 the hotel saw the major scenes of the Newport Rising, when 3,000 Chartists, some of them armed, led by John Frost marche ...

), linking the town centre with

Pillgwenlly Pillgwenlly ( cy, Pilgwenlli), usually known as Pill, is a community (civil parish) and coterminous electoral district (ward) in the city of Newport, South Wales. Etymology The name is an elision of " Pîl Gwynllyw" (or "Gwynllyw's Pîl" in ...

and the early Newport Docks. Notable buildings on Commercial Street were the

Newman, ''The Buildings of Wales: Gwent/Monmouthshire''
page 449
/ref> (now on what is called Westgate Square), Newport's Town Hall (1885 by T. M. Lockwood, demolished when it was replaced by the 1940

Civic Centre A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...

), the Empire Theatre (which burnt down in the 1940s), and several

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

s and large

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

Modern day

The northern half of Commercial Street, from Westgate Square as far as Hill Street, is part of the Town Centre Conservation Area, including many

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

s rising to three or four storeys, dating from the Victorian period to the early 20th century. In the 2010s several large national stores left Commercial Street, amongst them

Marks and Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

, Burton and

Monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

leaving empty shop units, charity shops or bargain stores in their place. Joining Commercial Street to

John Frost Square John Frost Square is a large public space in the centre of Newport, South Wales, named after the Chartist leader, John Frost. It was redeveloped as part of the Friars Walk shopping and leisure complex in 2014 and 2015. Major features on John ...

is Llanarth Street, the shops on which include shoe shop A. G. Meek, trading since 1912 and Vacara's Fish and Chip shop, which opened around 1900.

Sources

References

{{Commons category, Commercial Street, Newport, Wales, Commercial Street, Newport Streets and squares in Newport, Wales Shopping streets in Wales Shopping in Newport, Wales