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Central quay

if it's about Cardiff.. Sport, Entertainment, Transportation, Business, Development Projects, Leisure, Eating, Drinking, Nightlife, Shopping, Train Spotting! etc.. then we want it here!
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RandomComment

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Re: Central quay

PostWed Feb 21, 2018 5:19 pm

Some of the suggestions from design/planning professionals and students for this project are a bit pie in the sky and/or not really really grounded in evidence.

http://www.centralquay.co.uk/wp-content ... ed-res.pdf

"Penarth Road bridge might be considered for traffic redirection, be made one way, pedestrian only or have traffic controls to allow one direction of travel at a time. This could help to improve the pedestrian and cycle environment which is particularly important in this location."

Ahem. Yes. Close up one of the main East-West arteries in south/central Cardiff to all but pedestrians.

"Investigate the potential for a car free development - what is needed to facilitate this, what are the advantages and disadvantages and what will be best for the city? Timelines and demographics should inform further work."

For the foreseeable future, I cant see any development with a 1000 flats and 1.5 million office space and a station being 'car free'. You'd destroy the economic viability of it.

"It was suggested that there is a demand for further arts and culture spaces within the city. Could this be explored further to enhance the mix of uses on the site?"

Is there? There isn't a shortage of space in the city if so, including some empty premises that could be adapted/converted.

"Put the railway underground!"
Er. yes....
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Amoore

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Re: Central quay

PostWed Feb 21, 2018 5:50 pm

This talk of 50 bars and restaurants makes me laugh when they can't fill the handful of units in the Brewery Quarter as it is. Even St Davids has empty restaurant units.

Also, you've got the Council refusing bar/restaurant applications in the city centre due to their Cumulative Impact Policy. This site is just outside the CIP zone but are they seriously going to grant 50 new premises licences right next to it?! No mention of police consultation, but they regularly state they struggle with policing the city centre at night as it is (hence the CIP).
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Cen

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Re: Central quay

PostWed Feb 21, 2018 6:45 pm

Amoore wrote:This talk of 50 bars and restaurants makes me laugh when they can't fill the handful of units in the Brewery Quarter as it is. Even St Davids has empty restaurant units.
I don’t think that’s fair. All the good restaurants are nearly always fully booked at peak times. Restaurants in Cardiff are probably far more profitable than retailers currently. I’d say the reason for the empty restaurant units is more to do with the business itself serving low quality food or charging too much money. Or just misjudging the market with excessively niche ideas - like Burger and Lobster.
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RandomComment

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Re: Central quay

PostWed Feb 21, 2018 6:56 pm

Cen wrote:All the good restaurants are nearly always fully booked at peak times.


Cardiff has been getting a lot of attention from fast casual through to upper-mid market national operators over the last couple of years, although that does seem to have petered out a bit. So it can't be doing badly.

But I don't get the impression that places are "nearly always fully booked". At least not in comparison with cities like Liverpool or Manchester. In December 2016 in Manchester and December 2017 in Liverpool, we couldn't get a table anywhere half decent on a Saturday night at 5:45 - 6:15. What I'd consider "pre-peak". First time had to resort to takeaway pizza in my hotel room; second time to takeaway fish and chips! I've never really experienced this in Cardiff.
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Mr Blue Sky

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Re: Central quay

PostWed Feb 21, 2018 7:56 pm

RandomComment wrote:
Cen wrote:All the good restaurants are nearly always fully booked at peak times.


Cardiff has been getting a lot of attention from fast casual through to upper-mid market national operators over the last couple of years, although that does seem to have petered out a bit. So it can't be doing badly.

But I don't get the impression that places are "nearly always fully booked". At least not in comparison with cities like Liverpool or Manchester. In December 2016 in Manchester and December 2017 in Liverpool, we couldn't get a table anywhere half decent on a Saturday night at 5:45 - 6:15. What I'd consider "pre-peak". First time had to resort to takeaway pizza in my hotel room; second time to takeaway fish and chips! I've never really experienced this in Cardiff.


I spent a night in Liverpool recently. I lived on Merseyside for most of the 1980s but hadn’t visited since 2000 so I was excited to see how much the city had developed, and in what ways. I was impressed by Liverpool 1 and the Ropewalks area, but the financial district (which was full of banks and insurance companies in the 80s) was no longer bustling. What did surprise me was how many tourists there were in the city. We ended up eating at a Brazilian barbecue place - which was delicious and good value - but I found it incredible that there were four such places in the city centre! Cardiff has a great food scene IMHO but we are still behind the other U.K. core cities in terms of the sheer number and variety of eateries in our compact city centre.

As for Central Quay there is no way whatsoever that fifty pubs, clubs, bars, cafes and restaurants will be included in the plans. I think 15-25 would be optimal. I’m not sure exactly how many eateries/drinkeries there are down the Bay but there certainly aren’t 50, and I can’t imagine that Central Quay will be a bigger draw than the Bay.
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DJKiran

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Re: Central quay

PostWed Feb 21, 2018 8:05 pm

This is pretty! Love all these tall buildings getting built, moving Cardiff into the 21st century.
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Ash

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Re: Central quay

PostWed Feb 21, 2018 8:40 pm

Mr Blue Sky wrote: As for Central Quay there is no way whatsoever that fifty pubs, clubs, bars, cafes and restaurants will be included in the plans. I think 15-25 would be optimal. I’m not sure exactly how many eateries/drinkeries there are down the Bay but there certainly aren’t 50, and I can’t imagine that Central Quay will be a bigger draw than the Bay.


It depends what they're classing as 'bars and restaurants'. The 2,000 student campus would probably include half a dozen outlets for students and if you add in the Prets and Greggs of this world servicing the office part of the scheme, fifty might not be too much of an over-estimate.

I'm more interested in seeing if they manage to find a way of making the riverside walk continuous from Canton Bridge to Penarth Road by somehow crossing the main rail line. I think pubs and restaurants might struggle if the only pedestrian access from the city centre is via Penarth Road and through the station.

As for how many eateries there are in the Bay, there are 33 in Mermaid Quay alone and half a dozen in the Red Dragon centre so the total number must exeed fifty. There are around 60-70 I should imagine if you include the hotels.
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Lewisbeecham

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Re: Central quay

PostWed Feb 21, 2018 9:12 pm

On top of what's suggested above if you add a convenience shop or two, coffee shops etc I don't think 50 is overly ambitious.

There was a plan for a pedestrian bridge, or am I making this up?
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Jeremy

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Re: Central quay

PostWed Feb 21, 2018 11:04 pm

A footbridge over the Taff towards Merches Gardens as a way to link with the Tramshed and the existing riverside walk, plus I agree a bridge over the railway, perhaps with a coffee shop midway over, for all the trainspotters, to link with the stadium walkway.
While I know this is a Master-plan rather than the final detailed designs for the buildings they could reflect the Art-Deco style of the main ticket hall to give it a more unique feel/style for the UK. I am thinking in part of the Rockefeller Center NY.
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paul cardiffwalesmap

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Re: Central quay

PostThu Feb 22, 2018 12:26 am

I'm not sure that a footbridge has been proposed for this stretch of the Taff, originally as part of the Dumballs Road area one was planned the other side (downstream) of the Penarth Road bridge. The whole Dumballs road area masterplan seems to be very quiet and maybe now what will happen is individual developments creeping down towards Century Wharf. Already Brickworks is well under construction and various other developments in that area have or are being proposed. Presumably the Central Quay development will see more interest in the northern part of the Dumballs road area.
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