Cardiff

Cardiff Arcades Project

By Gem - 20:59:00

I came across the fabulous Cardiff Arcades Project on twitter, I saw lots of people from Cardiff mention it so I thought I would check it out. It's a great photography project centred around the beautiful Victorian and Edwardian shopping arcades that are located in Cardiff’s city centre.

Amy Davies is using her gift for capturing a truly beautiful photo to help promote the arcades and all the unique shops located inside them. I'm worried that the arcades will be forgotten with huge shopping developments like St Davids 2 dominating Cardiff city centre. I hope this project will succeed in reminding people about all the wonderful independent stores that are housed in the arcades before they become nothing but a memory.

If you are ever in Cardiff please visit the arcades because they have some beautiful independent vintage shops like A Vintage Affair and Looby Loo's Boutique.

I've chosen a few of my favourite photos from the project so far to share with you-



The photos are of the Castle Arcade and the following photos are of the Morgan Arcade.

 I would like to thank Amy for letting me use her photos, aren't they fab? You can check out more of her photos on her Project 365 tumblr.

Lucy Sherriff who did a guest post/interview for me before (which you can find here) has written a great piece about the arcades on her blog which you should go and read because it features some great interviews with local retailers.

Are there any hidden treasures like the arcades in your town? Do you shop at independent retailers?

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14 comments

  1. Rosie Savage10 February 2011 at 21:51

    Wow, they look like such cute places to wander!
    I hope places like this never die,

    Rosie x

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  2. Pretty Penny Mae10 February 2011 at 21:57

    These photos are beautiful. I just adore shopping arcades! It's one of the many thing that I miss about living in London. There are no places like this in Texas and it is such a shame. I guess I'll just have to vicariously enjoy places like this.

    Brooke

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  3. Gem10 February 2011 at 22:08

    Amy takes lovely photos, I wish I had her skills! I do most of my shopping in the arcades I need to visit the Castle Arcade more though, I always forget about that one.

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  4. Sarah10 February 2011 at 22:32

    This looks lovely!
    x

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  5. Nicola10 February 2011 at 23:46

    That looks lovely! We have a little Victorian arcade, but it's a bit rubbish and I never go in. It's a shame. Hull have some lovely old buildings, but the council seems set on building new shopping centres and filling them with the big names.

    I got my parcel this morning, thank you! I took a picture then scoffed the rock.

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  6. Gem11 February 2011 at 00:11

    Cardiff Council is like that, it developed the bay and put lots of ugly new flats down there:(

    Glad it arrived safely! I got the rock from Wally's which is a great shop in one of the arcades and the Jolly Ranchers. They sell lots of cool American sweets that you can't get anywhere else. I wanted to send Welsh cakes but they get dry pretty quick x

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  7. Unknown11 February 2011 at 03:38

    Wow, beautiful place!

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  8. Natalie Mulford11 February 2011 at 05:31

    Wow! That looks like am amazing place to go exploring!

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  9. Unknown11 February 2011 at 10:49

    I love wandering through these arcades. There's a great cheese shop in one of them (I can't remember which one - I always get them all mixed up!). I think of these arcades as Cardiff's answer to Brighton's Lanes, but slightly better because they're undercover ;)

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  10. VanessaValkyria11 February 2011 at 13:19

    I miss them sooooooooooooooo much :_( I swear
    My favourites are Queens and Morgan :)

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  11. Victoria11 February 2011 at 13:23

    It looks like a lovely place to visit, really quaint. We have something a bit like this in Derby but on a much smaller scale...unfortunately it's overshot by a huge shopping centre, so it's gone a bit downhill recently xxx

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  12. Hannah11 February 2011 at 17:37

    I've been to Cardiff a few times but never to these arcades which is a shame because they look and sound lovely. Who knows when I'll be back in Wales again


    Bow Dream Nation xx

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  13. Rebecca Rose13 February 2011 at 12:05

    These look really cute! I may be moving to Cardiff for Uni this year, I've never had a proper look around, but I'm going for my interview next week and intend to explore in great detail! Looks like a lovely place from what I've seen :)

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  14. Gem13 February 2011 at 13:10

    @Rebecca Rose- Cardiff is fab, I went to Cardiff Uni and I loved it so much I work in the library there now :) The arcades have some truly lovely shops x

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