Pub next to peoples’ homes allowed to stay open until 2.30 am

Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter

A Cardiff pub that’s right next door to people’ homes has been given permission to stay open until the early hours of the morning.

Cardiff Council approved plans to allow The Cardiff Arms on Churchill Way to stay open until 2.30am and sell alcohol until 2am throughout the week at a licensing sub committee meeting on Wednesday, September 3.

Residents living at Landmark Place raised concerns about the proposal soon after it was announced, fearing it will generate a “considerable amount of unwelcome and uncontrollable external noise”.

Conditions

The owners of the pub have agreed to a number of conditions set by police and the council’s pollution control team. However, local councillors also have their concerns about the plans.

Cardiff Council ward member for Cathays, Cllr Chris Waver, said the proposed changes effectively “converts it [the pub] into a nightclub”.

The Cardiff Arms opened in April 2025 where the former Meet Chinese Restaurant used to be.

It is one of the most recent premises to open on Churchill Way following the transformation of the Canal Quarter by Cardiff Council.

The wider scheme, which has so far seen the old dock feeder on Churchill Way uncovered for the first time in 70 years, aims to deliver a mixed-use development comprising of offices, shops, restaurants and bars.

Acceptable

Cllr Weaver went on to suggest that it would be more acceptable to him and his fellow ward councillors if The Cardiff Arms continued to operate as a “traditional pub” until 11pm, like a number of other pubs in the city centre.

He added: “We don’t need another nightclub on that street.”

The owners of The Cardiff Arms, Canal Quarter PLH Ltd, are also behind the other bars on Churchill Way, including The Kings, Pulse and The Dock Feeder.

Tony Bowley, representing the applicants at the licensing sub committee meeting, said the pub “won’t morph into a nightclub”.

He added: “To have a second nightclub in the same street would be commercial suicide.

“We have only got one pub and this is it.”

He also went on to say that there are pubs in Cardiff city centre that open until the early hours of the morning, particularly Wetherspoon pubs, and that the applicants are only “looking for a level playing field”.

One resident wrote to Cardiff Council to say the extended hours would lead to more noise at unsociable hours for locals in the “highly residential lower part of Churchill Way”.

The resident, whose name was not published alongside their representation on Cardiff Council’s website, said: “In June 2024, representatives/agents of the applicant objected on behalf of their other business… to the proposed residential development at 4 Churchill Way.

“This was on the grounds that these businesses had previously received noise complaints from residents of Landmark Place.

“Given that The Cardiff Arms pub is located far closer to and directly below Landmark Place (and also in close proximity to Castle Park Apartments and Churchill Villas), an extension to the licensing hours is unsuitable.

“It will clearly have a negative noise impact on local residents.”

South Wales Police and the council’s pollution control team initially objected to plans to extend the operating hours of The Cardiff Arms.

However, both withdrew their objections after the applicant agreed to a number of conditions aimed at preventing crime and disorder and noise pollution.