Cardiff City Centre photos
A stroll around Cardiff on a chilly December afternoon
(Photos © urban75, 27th December 2008)
Cardiff is a city undergoing rapid change and modernisation, and although it's great to see so much investment going into my home town, an awful lot of character and history seems to be getting swept under the carpet too.
Here's some photos from a Christmas wander around the city on a glorious December afternoon.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-01.jpg) Churchill Way is almost unrecognisable from how I remember it as a child, with tall, shiny buildings sprouting up all along the eastern side of street.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-02.jpg)
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-03.jpg) Graffiti on Churchill Way.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-04.jpg) Masonic Temple, Guildford Street, Cardiff.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-05.jpg) I thought the original St. David's Centre was bad enough, but work is well underway on developing an uglier sister, imaginatively entitled the St. David's Centre 2.
Together, these two faceless slabs of US-style uber-consumerism will engulf 427,000 sq ft of retail floor area, making it one of the busiest shopping centres in the European Union, exceeding Birmingham's Bull Ring.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-07.jpg)
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-08.jpg) Crane reflections.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-09.jpg) Cardiff International Arena, Cardiff's largest indoor concert, sporting, banqueting and convention facility.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-10.jpg)
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-11.jpg) Unusual but rather pleasing development on Bute Terrace which retains the original facade.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-12.jpg)
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-14.jpg) The fabulous original tiling on the Golden Cross on Hayes Bridge Rd, Cardiff.
A grade 2 listed building, it was built in 1849 as the Shield and Newcastle Tavern and was renamed as the Golden Cross in 1863. It's now a popular and friendly gay bar.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-15.jpg) Inside the large bar is split into two sections, one with an attractive curved tiled bar front.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-16.jpg) Exterior detail.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-17.jpg) New John Lewis building.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-18.jpg) Christmas decorations in the Royal Arcade.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-19.jpg) More decorations on St Mary Street.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-20.jpg) Morgan Arcade view.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-21.jpg) Bookstore, Morgan Arcade.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-22.jpg) The pinnacled Somerset Tower of St John's Church, built in 1473.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-23.jpg) Womanby Street, with the superb Clwb Ifor Bach to the right and Cardiff Castle tower in the background.
![Cardiff City Centre photos, street scenes and buildings, Cardiff, south Wales](images/cardiff-photos-wales-25.jpg) Street performer pulls a crowd outside the High Street Arcade.
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