Queen Street

...make. Head straight on into Queen St. the pedestrianised shopping heart of the city or turn right into the Hayes. It’s closing in on lunchtime, so we decide to head for the Hayes, with its outdoor café and people watching opportunities.

After a pleasant lunch we wander around the Hayes, popping for a while into Waterstones Bookstore and Habitat before making our way past the second branch of Waterstones into the Queens arcade. ...
...arcade we find ourselves on Queen St again. A quick look in Gap, then it’s on to Boots, HMV, the largest branch of Dixons in the country, Monsoon, WH Smiths, Next, Racing Green, Marks & Spencers, Anne Summers, Thorntons (for that gift for granny) and Austin Reed. We saved Austin Reed for last, because we can walk through it and into the Capitol arcade. In this two level arcade we find the Gadget Shop, H&M, a jewellery shop, Virgin, another ... more

This may shock some of you so prepare yourself, but Cardiff has actually been voted in the top five shopping cities in the UK. In fact it’s been in that list for a good few years now. Amazing to those people who’ve never visited this glorious city before and who still think Cardiff and Wales are light years behind London. Allow me, if you will, to take your hand and guide you through the streets of Cardiff, I’ll show you something that will make you change your mind.

So, you’ve peeled off the chewing gum from your trouser leg and sprayed perfume to get rid of the slightly musty smell left behind by the strange man who sat next to you, even though there was no-one else in the carriage and stepped of the train at Cardiff Central. You emerge into Central Square, husbands credit card in hand ready to do some damage. You go girl! (pretty sexist I know, but it’s only women that go shopping isn’t it?)

First stop is St. Mary’s Street. A long, wide street running from the magnificent Cardiff Castle to the café quarter at the other end. On this street you will find David Morgan and Howells, two large department stores. David Morgan is a privately owned, old-fashioned type store, probably left to the older woman and gentleman. Head for Howells. There you will find everything under the sun. From designer clothes to electrical goods to household furniture. It’s a large, hot, busy store that generally has women falling over themselves in the rush to get there. Also on St. Mary’s Street are, amongst others, two kitchen shops (one selling kitchen goods the other selling kitchens!), Blackwells book store, a health food store, a sports store and numerous bars, coffee shops and restaurants.

Once you’ve finished with St. Mary’s Street, walk with me through the Castle Arcade. This beautiful L shaped arcade holds such wonderful stores as, City Surf, an excellent surf shop selling everything from trendy sunglasses to the surf boards themselves, an upmarket hairdressers, a juice store, several trendy clothing stores, a martial arts store and the Cardiff Condom shop! Oh, and it also contains a second hand bookstore and a café specialising in lovely welsh food.

As we emerge into the sunlight (for the sun ALWAYS shines in Cardiff) we get an eyeful of the castle which is right in front of us. Turn right onto Castle Street and walk past a few camping shops, a futon centre, a number of Welsh gift shops and Jessops camera shop. We now have a choice to make. Head straight on into Queen St. the pedestrianised shopping heart of the city or turn right into the Hayes. It’s closing in on lunchtime, so we decide to head for the Hayes, with its outdoor café and people watching opportunities.

After a pleasant lunch we wander around the Hayes, popping for a while into Waterstones Bookstore and Habitat before making our way past the second branch of Waterstones into the Queens arcade. Here we buy a gift for your nephew from the Disney Store and imagine furnishing that dream house with items from The Pier. You pop into FCUK while I take a quick look in the Nike shop. Once through to the other side of the arcade we find ourselves on Queen St again. A quick look in Gap, then it’s on to Boots, HMV, the largest branch of Dixons in the country, Monsoon, WH Smiths, Next, Racing Green, Marks & Spencers, Anne Summers, Thorntons (for that gift for granny) and Austin Reed. We saved Austin Reed for last, because we can walk through it and into the Capitol arcade. In this two level arcade we find the Gadget Shop, H&M, a jewellery shop, Virgin, another camping shop, the Orange shop, another Boots and a few more cafés and clothes stores.

We leave the Capitol arcade and return to Queen St. After a quick recharge of the batteries in Starbucks we head through Marks and Spencer and into St. Davids Centre. In here you want to visit everywhere. Warehouse, Debenhams, Burtons, BHS, The Swiss Watch Shop, Game, USC, Woolworths, the four different shoe shops (at least!), Peacocks, Giles Sports. The list seems endless and after what seems like hours we meet up back on the Hayes, outside the St. David’s Concert Hall. We make our way past Moss Bros, Halfords and a rather trendy furniture shop called Bo and turn right into the arcade through to St. Mary’s Street. This arcade contains a number of small specialist shops and we wander past a delicatessen, with its fantastic smells and range of forty different pastas, a camera shop, an italian shirt shop, a picture shop and an art supplies shop.

Finally, we are almost back at the train station for your journey home. You quickly nip into another WH Smiths to get yourself a book and a drink, then you tell me what a wonderful day you’ve had, and how surprised you were at Cardiff’s extensive and varied shopping.
 

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