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Re: Cardiff restaurants and cafes

PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 3:05 pm
by Simon_SW17
I didn't realise that Artigiano had closed down, I liked it in there, it was nice to have somewhere a bit different. Don't suppose I was much help to their sales going twice a year when I was home though ;)

Re: Cardiff restaurants and cafes

PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 3:29 pm
by Mathew5
jonnywill25 wrote:- Mission Burrito have closed their restaurant on the Friary due to insufficient footfall and declining trade. They will not be reopening elsewhere in the city.


I had a similar experience. Crap for vegetarians too.

Re: Cardiff restaurants and cafes

PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 3:30 pm
by Mathew5
Karl wrote:The Alchemist is opening in the old Nat West in St Mary Street. It's a cocktail bar apparently so maybe should be in a different thread but I can't find the Bar and Pubs thread which used to be the busiest on this forum but is now gathering dust somewhere. A sign of the times.

Anyway this is a mini chain from Manchester with plans to expand in Cardiff, Bristol and Nottingham.

Are we reaching peak cocktail bar? Dirty Martini, Be at One, Pennyroyals in High Street and the Libertine (currently being kitted out and also in High Street) are new arrivals on the cocktail scene. Plus the Dead Canary and probably other places. Is it a sign of the more sophisticated tastes of your average Cardiffian or is it a fad and instead of being twatted on WKD's and Stella we will be twatted on Long Island Iced Teas and strawberry daquiris instead?

I guess it underlines the complete routing of retail in the High Street/St Mary Street vicinity. A couple of banks are hanging on and a few specialist shops but almost everything else is coffee shops, bars/pubs, eateries, convenience shops and takeaways.


Interesting observation. I think younger people see alcohol as more of a treat now, and they want something a bit more indulgent and exotic rather than getting smashed.

Re: Cardiff restaurants and cafes

PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 3:32 pm
by Mathew5
Mr Blue Sky wrote:
Karl wrote:The Alchemist is opening in the old Nat West in St Mary Street. It's a cocktail bar apparently so maybe should be in a different thread but I can't find the Bar and Pubs thread which used to be the busiest on this forum but is now gathering dust somewhere. A sign of the times.

Anyway this is a mini chain from Manchester with plans to expand in Cardiff, Bristol and Nottingham.

Are we reaching peak cocktail bar? Dirty Martini, Be at One, Pennyroyals in High Street and the Libertine (currently being kitted out and also in High Street) are new arrivals on the cocktail scene. Plus the Dead Canary and probably other places. Is it a sign of the more sophisticated tastes of your average Cardiffian or is it a fad and instead of being twatted on WKD's and Stella we will be twatted on Long Island Iced Teas and strawberry daquiris instead?

I guess it underlines the complete routing of retail in the High Street/St Mary Street vicinity. A couple of banks are hanging on and a few specialist shops but almost everything else is coffee shops, bars/pubs, eateries, convenience shops and takeaways.



Lloyds Bank in Canton is becoming a Costa. I loved those cashpoints but they are gone. I got my money from them for 20 years. I don't drink coffee any more and I certainly would never spend a few quid at Costa or its ilk. Pontcanna's borders move ever southwards. Eventually Canton will be tiny, sandwiched between a vast Pontcanna and a burgeoning "Victoria Park" district. In the not-so-distant future, Canton will cease to exist and Jantra's haunt, the Canton Cross, will be a hipster hangout specialising in arcane streetfoods and be known as "Pontcanna Cottage."



But to be honest, the whole of Cowbridge Road East looks like the end of Western civilisation, so if the hipsters do take over I'm happy with that.

I remember when I first moved there, I kindly asked a street fruit seller where Canna surgery was and he replied "Only if you wank me off."

Let's face it, most of the offstreets on the Tesco side are no-go areas.

Re: Cardiff restaurants and cafes

PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 3:52 pm
by Mr Blue Sky
Canton is slowly gentrifying but I’m glad I got out of the area after 20 years. I preferred it with all the rough pubs (I drank in the Canton, Napier, Spoons and Kings) and I can’t stand hipster hangouts but that’s probably because I’m too old to be trendy. There are barely any vacant retail units the whole length of Cowbridge Rd East but at night, with all the shutters closed, it makes a pretty depressing sight.

Without wanting to provoke Jantra, Pontcanna, where I lived, is so infested with yummy mummies, MAMILS and posh English people that its status as a hotbed of Welsh nationalism has probably gone for ever. The Gogs and Nats now live in Canton, Riverside and Grangetown. The south west side of Cardiff is more Welsh than I can ever remember it being.

Re: Cardiff restaurants and cafes

PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 3:57 pm
by Simon__200
Mathew5 wrote:Interesting observation. I think younger people see alcohol as more of a treat now, and they want something a bit more indulgent and exotic rather than getting smashed.


I don't agree with that observation. Youngsters seem to have so little disposable income that a night out seems to consist of Wetherspoon's and a pitcher, or whatever's cheapest. Just take a look inside at a weekend.

I'd say the cocktail bars cater for the more mature revellers, or a handful of more affluent youngsters on very special occasions

Re: Cardiff restaurants and cafes

PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 4:15 pm
by Lewisbeecham
Mr Blue Sky wrote:Canton is slowly gentrifying but I’m glad I got out of the area after 20 years. I preferred it with all the rough pubs (I drank in the Canton, Napier, Spoons and Kings) and I can’t stand hipster hangouts but that’s probably because I’m too old to be trendy. There are barely any vacant retail units the whole length of Cowbridge Rd East but at night, with all the shutters closed, it makes a pretty depressing sight.

Without wanting to provoke Jantra, Pontcanna, where I lived, is so infested with yummy mummies, MAMILS and posh English people that its status as a hotbed of Welsh nationalism has probably gone for ever. The Gogs and Nats now live in Canton, Riverside and Grangetown. The south west side of Cardiff is more Welsh than I can ever remember it being.


Jesus wept.

Re: Cardiff restaurants and cafes

PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2017 5:14 pm
by Mathew5
Mr Blue Sky wrote:Canton is slowly gentrifying but I’m glad I got out of the area after 20 years. I preferred it with all the rough pubs (I drank in the Canton, Napier, Spoons and Kings) and I can’t stand hipster hangouts but that’s probably because I’m too old to be trendy. There are barely any vacant retail units the whole length of Cowbridge Rd East but at night, with all the shutters closed, it makes a pretty depressing sight.

Without wanting to provoke Jantra, Pontcanna, where I lived, is so infested with yummy mummies, MAMILS and posh English people that its status as a hotbed of Welsh nationalism has probably gone for ever. The Gogs and Nats now live in Canton, Riverside and Grangetown. The south west side of Cardiff is more Welsh than I can ever remember it being.


I'm not too sure about that. I hear Welsh spoken a lot in Pontcanna, but the Welsh language is an interesting marker of gentrification. Lots of Welsh speakers in north Cardiff - places like Whitchurch, Rhiwbeina and Llandaff North. Pontcanna is still a stronghold as are parts of Canton, Victoria Park, and now Grangetown.

Re: Cardiff restaurants and cafes

PostPosted: Wed Nov 01, 2017 12:22 pm
by Mr Blue Sky
Lewisbeecham wrote:
Mr Blue Sky wrote:Canton is slowly gentrifying but I’m glad I got out of the area after 20 years. I preferred it with all the rough pubs (I drank in the Canton, Napier, Spoons and Kings) and I can’t stand hipster hangouts but that’s probably because I’m too old to be trendy. There are barely any vacant retail units the whole length of Cowbridge Rd East but at night, with all the shutters closed, it makes a pretty depressing sight.

Without wanting to provoke Jantra, Pontcanna, where I lived, is so infested with yummy mummies, MAMILS and posh English people that its status as a hotbed of Welsh nationalism has probably gone for ever. The Gogs and Nats now live in Canton, Riverside and Grangetown. The south west side of Cardiff is more Welsh than I can ever remember it being.


Jesus wept.


Jesus wept regarding what exactly? I lived in Pontcanna for 20 years and was a member of Plaid Cymru’s Riverside branch the whole time. There are fewer Welsh speakers in Pontcanna now, and more posh English people, than ten years ago. Gentrification is leading to demographic change. The Conway was a Welsh language pub - now it is a Gastropub. Plaid Cymru held the Riverside (including Pontcanna) seats for eight years. They now hold no seats in the ward. Having canvassed Pontcanna many times and looked at votes during election counts it has become clear that there are fewer Welsh speakers, and more posh English people, than in the past.

If you hold a differing opinion feel free to give your enlightened thoughts.

Re: Cardiff restaurants and cafes

PostPosted: Wed Nov 01, 2017 12:52 pm
by Jantra
Mathew5 wrote:
Let's face it, most of the offstreets on the Tesco side are no-go areas.

You must be a delicate little wallflower if you find canton court a worry