The Royal Arcade is a shopping

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

. The Royal Arcade is the oldest arcade in Cardiff, being built in 1858, it is a

Grade II listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

. In 1861, a free library was set up by voluntary subscription above the St Mary Street entrance to the Royal Arcade in Cardiff. Before the end of the 19th century the Cardiff School of art was using rooms above the arcade with students such as

J. M. Staniforth Joseph Morewood Staniforth ( – 21 December 1921) was a Welsh editorial cartoonist best known for his work in the '' Western Mail'', ''Evening Express'' and Sunday weekly the ''News of the World''. Staniforth has been described as "...the most ...

and

Goscombe John Sir William Goscombe John (21 February 1860 – 15 December 1952) was a prolific Welsh sculptor known for his many public memorials. As a sculptor, John developed a distinctive style of his own while respecting classical traditions and forms o ...

attending. Running east–west from

The Hayes The Hayes () 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 of the H ...

to St Mary's Street, parallel but to the south of the

Morgan Arcade The Morgan Arcade is a shopping arcade (architecture), arcade in Cardiff, South Wales. Started in 1896, it was built to connect the main entrance of David Morgan (department store), David Morgan's department store on St. Mary's Street, Cardiff, ...

, it also runs under David Morgan's

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

. After Morgans bought the Royal Arcade, the family formed a holding company called the Cardiff Arcade Company, which owned and operated both the Royal and the Morgan arcades. After the agreed closure of David Morgan's, the property assets inside the various holdings companies were sold in late 2004 for £25 million to property firm

Helical Bar Helical plc (formerly Helical Bar plc) is a Central London development-focused real estate business and a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index The FTSE SmallCap Index is an index of small market capitalisation companies consisting of the 351 ...

. David Morgan Limited, Deymel Investments Limited and the Cardiff Arcade Company Limited are now all in liquidation. Royal Arcade

Between 2007 and 2008 the whole site was refurbished by

, with the arcades restored. The companies spent £30M on restoring both the Morgan and Royal arcades, with some first-floor Venetian windows and original wooden storefronts still surviving. Today the Royal Arcade still has some of the original shopfronts at numbers 29, 30 and 32 on St. Mary Street. Running direct opposite from the new St. David's 2 development and close to

Cardiff Central Library Cardiff Central Library (now Cardiff Central Library Hub) () is the main library in the Cardiff city centre, city centre of Cardiff, Wales. It offers a public library service and is open six days a week. Four buildings have been named as such, ...

, a variety of independent shops are still to be found such as Wally's Delicatessen, who have been in the arcade for 60 years, and those specialising in Welsh textiles, gifts and homeware.

References

External links

* {{coord, 51.4785, -3.1769, format=dms, type:landmark, display=title Shopping arcades in Cardiff Grade II listed buildings in Cardiff Shopping malls established in 1858 Castle, Cardiff

See also

References

External links