{"id":5701,"date":"2012-01-04T14:30:05","date_gmt":"2012-01-04T14:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/?p=5701"},"modified":"2012-01-04T14:06:11","modified_gmt":"2012-01-04T14:06:11","slug":"cardiff-bay-photos-around-the-old-tiger-bay-and-cardiff-docks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/cardiff-bay-photos-around-the-old-tiger-bay-and-cardiff-docks\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiff Bay – photos around the old Tiger Bay and Cardiff Docks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

For old-time Cardiffians like yours truly, it still seems quite hard to take in the immense changes that have taken place around Cardiff Docks in the past decade or so.<\/p>\n

When I was a kid, a trip to the bay invariably involved walking around large tracts of derelict land complemented by a vista of gloopy mud when the tide was out (see pic further down) – and then trying to find somewhere that would serve up a cuppa.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

Recent huge investment and the controversial Cardiff Barrage project<\/a> have triggered massive regeneration and helped turned the area into a major tourist attraction.<\/p>\n

Incredibly, National Geographic listed Cardiff in their top ten worldwide \u2018Best Summer Trips\u2019 last year<\/a>, warmly praising the facilities at Cardiff Bay.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

Not all of the old docks area has been buffed up to a snapshot-friendly, tourist pleasing sheen yet though, with some\u00a0buildings looking as shabby as they ever did.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

Cardiff Bay station<\/a>\u00a0still looks as\u00a0disappointingly\u00a0decrepit as ever, which is kind of strange considering that it provides the gateway to the Bay for many visitors.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

It’s hard to imagine now how busy the docks must have been in their\u00a0heyday, but a fair bit of the industrial-era architecture survives.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

The old Pilotage Building, now\u00a0Woods Brasserie. Possibly the oldest building in the Bay, it was used by\u00a0local pilots operating in the Bristol Channel \u00a0to pick up their rosters and pay packets.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

Designed to depict the previous use of the building as a Pilotage Office is this\u00a0copper and steel weathervane, created by Andy Hazell in 1997.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

The\u00a0weather\u00a0vane connects to the original weathervane clock, an attractive thing which features a\u00a0moving\u00a0fish to indicate wind direction.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

On the seafront boardwalk, with a wide variety of restaurants and cafes to tempt visitors.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Wales Millennium Centre<\/a> (the\u00a0Armadillo), opened in 2009. I love this building!<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

Twilight view. See below for how things looked back in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

Cardiff Bay in the mid-1980s, showing the sea of sticky mud that was exposed for many hours when the tide went out. There wasn’t an awful lot to do in the area back then but I rather liked the post-industrial desolation.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

The\u00a0striking Senedd\u00a0building<\/a>\u00a0facing Cardiff Bay. Home to the National Assembly for Wales, it was\u00a0designed\u00a0by\u00a0Lord Richard Rogers and opened for business in February 2006.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

View of Cardiff Bay seafront, showing the Pierhead\u00a0building<\/a>\u00a0shrouded by scaffolding.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0\u00a0stunning brick and terracotta building was opened in 1897 and served as the headquarters of the Cardiff Railway Company (formerly the Bute Docks Company).<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

Built and commissioned by Trinity House in 1953, the lightship Helwick LV14\u00a0was brought to Cardiff Bay in 1993 and has been restored to create a floating Christian Centre<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

The famous Norwegian Church in\u00a0Cardiff\u00a0Bay<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

Winter early evening view, with the Norwegian Church to the left.<\/p>\n

\"Cardiff<\/p>\n

As car parks go, this one in Cardiff Bay definitely\u00a0looks better than most!\u00a0The illuminated\u00a0fa\u00e7ade\u00a0covers six floors and was created by Tony Hogg Design<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More about Cardiff Bay:<\/strong>
\n\u00bb\u00a0Cardiff Bay history<\/a>
\n\u00bb\u00a0Cardiff Bay 2004<\/a>
\n\u00bb\u00a0Norwegian Ch.<\/a>
\n\u00bb\u00a0Cardiff Barrage<\/a>
\n\u00bb\u00a0Millennium Centre<\/a>
\n\u00bb\u00a0Senedd\/Assembly<\/a>
\n\u00bb\u00a0Cardiff Bay feature, 2009<\/a>
\n\u00bb More Cardiff Bay photos<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For old-time Cardiffians like yours truly, it still seems quite hard to take in the immense changes that have taken place around Cardiff Docks in the past decade or so. … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20,193,198],"tags":[1196,425,1194],"class_list":["post-5701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardiff","category-places","category-wales-places","tag-cardiff","tag-cardiff-bay","tag-wales"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/cardiff-bay-december-2011-13.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pQI7P-1tX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5701"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5712,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5701\/revisions\/5712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}