St David's ( cy, Dewi Sant), previously known as St David's Shopping Centre, is one of the principal
shopping centre
A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre ( Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof.
The first known colle ...
s in the
city centre of
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
. It is in
The Hayes
The Hayes ( cy, Yr Ais) is a commercial area in the southern city centre of the Welsh capital, Cardiff. Centred on the road of that name leading south towards the east end of the city centre, the area is mostly pedestrianised and is the location ...
area of the southern city centre. Following the extension of St David's 2 in 2009, St David's is the third
busiest shopping centre in the United Kingdom.
The construction of the extension cost a total of £675m and brought Cardiff within the top five shopping destinations in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. The centre consists of original the first phase, St David's Centre, adjoining
St David's Hall and the second phase, given the development name of St David's 2. The second phase of the shopping centre opened on 22 October 2009, when the first 58 of its 88 stores opened for business.
History
In 2008–9, the annual footfall of the centre was 27 million, and it was expected to rise to 33 million in 2009–10.
20 million people visited the centre during the first six months after the opening of St David's 2.
St David's was crowned the international shopping centre of the year in 2010 by Global Retail Leisure International, beating contenders in Portugal and Singapore.
St David's and other centres were patrolled in 2009 by three
paramedic
A paramedic is a registered healthcare professional who works autonomously across a range of health and care settings and may specialise in clinical practice, as well as in education, leadership, and research.
Not all ambulance personnel are p ...
s on bicycles between every Friday and Sunday in order to respond rapidly to medical emergencies.
First phase
St David's Shopping Centre was open to the public in January 1981, although it did not officially open until 24 March 1982. The centre has four entrances located on Queen Street, Cathedral Walk, Working Street and Hills Street. The entrance on Hills Street connects to the northern entrance of the second phase of the shopping centre, open at street level and via an enclosed bridge on the first floor. It is also joined internally with
Queens Arcade
Queens Arcade ( cy, Arcêd y Frenhines) shopping centre is located in Cardiff city centre. It opened on 28 April 1994.
History
Developed on the site of the Allders department store and the similarly named Queen Street Arcade, the main entrance ...
. There are three
thoroughfares
A thoroughfare is a primary passage or way as a transit route through regularly trafficked areas, whether by road on dry land or, by
extension, via watercraft or aircraft. On land, a thoroughfare may refer to anything from a multi-lane highway ...
within the centre: Town Wall, Cathedral Walk and St David's Way.
The centre attracted an average footfall of 39,000,000 per annum
and has a core catchment of 2.4 million people. The 12 million tourists that visit the city annually help generate over £7.5 billion in retail spending. There are seventy-five individual shops and stores in the first centre that cater for a broad demographic. The centre was anchored by
Boots
A boot is a type of footwear.
Boot or Boots may also refer to:
Businesses
* Boot Inn, Chester, Cheshire, England
* Boots (company), a high-street pharmacy chain and manufacturer of pharmaceuticals in the United Kingdom
* The Boot, Cromer St ...
,
Debenhams
Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish ...
,
Marks & 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 ...
and
Primark
Primark Stores Limited (; trading as Penneys in the Republic of Ireland) is an Irish multinational fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. It has stores across Europe and in the United States. The Penneys brand is not us ...
in 2007.
St David's Hall was built on top of the shopping centre.
Second phase (St David's 2)
St David's, and much of the southern end of Cardiff city centre's shopping area, was re-developed as part of the St David's 2 development.
The second phase was a £675 million extension of the centre, in which a large part of Cardiff's south city centre was demolished. Demolished buildings included Oxford Arcade, St David's Market, St David's Link including the
Cardiff Central Library
Cardiff Central Library (now Cardiff Central Library Hub) ( cy, Llyfrgell Ganolog Caerdydd) is the main library in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. It offers a public library service and is open six days a week. Four buildings have been nam ...
, the
NCP Tredegar Street
multi-storey car park
A multistorey car park ( British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck or indoor parking, is a bui ...
, the
Wales National Ice Rink
The Wales National Ice Rink (WNIR) was an ice rink in Cardiff, Wales. It was the former home of the Cardiff Devils ice hockey team. The WNIR was opened in September 1986, and was inaugurated by the Duchess of York on 27 April 1987. Meat Loaf per ...
, the NCP Bridge Street multi-storey car park, and
Toys "R" Us
Toys "R" Us is an American toy, clothing, and baby product retailer owned by Tru Kids (doing business as Tru Kids Brands) and various others. The company was founded in 1957; its first store was built in April 1948, with its headquarters loc ...
who relocated to
Cardiff International Sports Village
Cardiff International Sports Village ( cy, Pentref Chwaraeon Rhyngwladol Caerdydd) is located in Cardiff Bay in the city of Cardiff, Wales. It is one of the largest Urban renewal, regeneration projects currently in the UK and is a Public-priv ...
. The second phase of St. David's was known as ''St David's 2'' during the construction phase, but both phases were simply named "St David's" when the second phase was completed. The second phase consists of three main buildings in total: the Central Library building, which is built on part of the
Marriott Hotel
Marriott Hotels & Resorts is Marriott International's brand of full-service hotels and resorts based in Bethesda, Maryland. As of June 30, 2020, there were 582 hotels and resorts with 205,053 rooms operating under the brand, in addition to 160 ...
car park, the
John Lewis
John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...
department store, which is built on the former Wales National Ice Rink, and the main shopping area, which is built on the former Oxford Arcade, St David's Link and western side of Bridge Street. It also includes
apartments
An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are man ...
, called Hayes Apartments, above the main shopping centre.
The second phase was made up of different sections, they were:
* St David's Walk, leading to the extension of
Debenhams
Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish ...
and the Grand Arcade.
* St David's Way, The original part of St David's.
* Grand Arcade, connecting St David's Walk in the original centre to John Lewis. The Grand Arcade was split over two floors.
The Upper Grand Arcade had other shops and stores.
The Lower Grand Arcade
* Eastside is the restaurant and café quarter of the second phase of the centre. It is split over two levels.
* Working Street, part of the façade of
St David's Hall, was converted into store fronts to better blend with the facade of the Working Street entrance of St David's Centre.
* The first Welsh branch of the
John Lewis
John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...
department store chain opened in 2009 and is the largest John Lewis store in the UK outside London. The John Lewis department store opened four weeks before the St David's Grand Arcade shopping area was opened.
St David's 2 has added an extra of retail space
to the city centre, in addition to the John Lewis department store,
nine other large stores, and a further 90 smaller shops in a two-tiered shopping mall have been built.
It has also created 3,000 car parking spaces, new bars and restaurants plus the new Central Library and 4,500 permanent jobs.
The development has included two new arcades: Grand Arcade and Hayes Arcade to reflect Cardiff's historical Victorian arcades.
The project, that was hoped to make Cardiff one of the top five shopping destinations in the United Kingdom,
topped out
In building construction, topping out (sometimes referred to as topping off) is a builders' rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed atop a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is often parlaye ...
on 27 January 2009. Many of the retailers in the second phase of the centre were new to Cardiff, and to Wales, in particular
John Lewis
John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...
,
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...
,
Hollister, and
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ...
.
Cardiff Central Library
The former Central Library was located a few hundred yards north of the present building and was knocked down to make way for the St David's 2 development. The new Central Library opened on 14 March 2009.
Alliance
Alliance is a -high sculpture in
The Hayes
The Hayes ( cy, Yr Ais) is a commercial area in the southern city centre of the Welsh capital, Cardiff. Centred on the road of that name leading south towards the east end of the city centre, the area is mostly pedestrianised and is the location ...
. The sculpture consists of a large stainless steel and enamelled metal arrow column and a hoop, which glows in the dark, and falls and rises with the tide. It was paid for by the St David's shopping centre as part of a £1.5m public art scheme in the city centre, was installed in the space between the new shopping centre and
Cardiff Central Library
Cardiff Central Library (now Cardiff Central Library Hub) ( cy, Llyfrgell Ganolog Caerdydd) is the main library in the city centre of Cardiff, Wales. It offers a public library service and is open six days a week. Four buildings have been nam ...
.
[WalesOnline , Arrow art aimed at the heart of Cardiff’s history and culture](_blank)
/ref>
Hayes Apartments
Hayes Apartments is part of St David's regeneration development by St David's Partnership; it is a joint venture between Land Securities and Capital Shopping Centres. It consists of 304 apartments above the shopping centre in seven blocks known as phases. The apartments are a mixture of studio flats and 1 and 2 bedroom apartments. The architects for the residential Hayes Apartments were Glenn Howells Architects
Glenn Paul Howells (born 15 July 1961) is a British architect and a director and founder of Glenn Howells Architects.
Early life
Howells was born in Stourbridge, England and educated in Plymouth.
Practice
His practice, Glenn Howells Archit ...
. Hayes Apartments has private courtyard gardens designed by Hyland Edgar Driver and planted above the rooftop of the shopping centre.
In summer 2010, the first residents moved into Hayes Apartments, which was launched by an outdoor garden party on the development's private courtyard gardens. Sales in the first two phases were announced as completed at the end of 2010 and sales began in the third phase, block 4, which is the largest block. The development was due for completion in 2012.
Barrack Lane Retail Quarter
Barrack Lane Retail Quarter is a residential and retail development. It forms part of St David’s and has nine shop units and 27 apartments. It is owned and managed by Linc-Cymru Housing Association, which is an organisation that specialises in affordable housing in Wales.
Logos and identity
Johnson Banks Design Ltd were commissioned by Capital Shopping Centres
Intu Properties plc was a British real estate investment trust (REIT), largely focused on shopping centre management and development. Originally named Liberty International plc, it changed its name in May 2010 to Capital Shopping Centres Group p ...
and Land Securities
Land Securities Group plc is the largest commercial property development and investment company in the United Kingdom. The firm became a real estate investment trust (REIT) when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007. It is ...
to provide a new logo and identity for the new St David's shopping centre. The designers said
Rail access
*
*
See also
* List of places in Cardiff
This is a listing of places in Cardiff, county and capital city of Wales.
Administrative divisions
Electoral wards
This is a list of electoral wards covered by Cardiff Council:
Communities
City Centre
The city centre is Cardiff's main shopp ...
* List of shopping arcades in Cardiff
Shopping arcades in Cardiff include indoor shopping centres and arcades in Cardiff city centre, Wales. Cardiff is known as the "City of Arcades", due to the highest concentration of Victorian, Edwardian and contemporary indoor shopping arcad ...
* List of shopping centres in the United Kingdom
This is a list of shopping centres in the United Kingdom. This list does not include retail parks.
England
The list is split by region.
London
* Angel Central, Angel
* Aylesham Centre, Peckham
* The Bentall Centre, Kingston upon Thames
* B ...
* List of the largest shopping centres in the United Kingdom by size
* List of largest shopping malls in the world
A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...
References
External links
St David’s official site
Barrack Lane official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint David's, Cardiff
Economy of Cardiff
Shopping in Cardiff
Shopping malls established in 1991
Redevelopment projects in Cardiff
Shopping arcades in Cardiff
Castle, Cardiff