‘Scruffy’ or a ‘nice modern city’? What people really think of Cardiff

Kieran Molloy, Local Democracy Reporter

Cardiff has undergone a dramatic transformation in recent decades – but residents, businesses and visitors are divided over whether the Welsh capital is continuing to improve or showing signs of neglect.

While some describe a modern and increasingly attractive city, others say dirty streets, deteriorating paving and empty shops are leaving parts of the centre looking “scruffy” and “behind the curve”.

The contrasting views emerged as the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) spoke to people who live, work and visit the city about how Cardiff is changing.

Long-time resident Paul Gibbs, 67, was among the most critical, describing the capital as “very scruffy” and “almost like a shanty town in places”.

He said: “If I came to Cardiff as a tourist and I saw the state of the paving, the litter, the street furniture etc, I wouldn’t be impressed – I’d be depressed.”

Mr Gibbs said “it wasn’t always like this” and argued that Cardiff was now “behind the curve”.

Business owners in the city centre raised similar concerns, although some also highlighted areas where Cardiff is thriving.

Alex Atkinson, who runs Still Room Apothecaries in Morgan Arcade, said he had felt “incredibly welcomed” by the city’s independent business community and praised the condition of Cardiff’s historic arcades.

But he was less impressed by other parts of the centre.

Comparing Cardiff with Milan – while acknowledging the considerable differences in their size and resources – Mr Atkinson said even less attractive parts of the Italian city appeared cleaner.

He said: “I didn’t see any rubbish on the streets, it felt safe and it felt clean despite some of the architecture in some more modern parts feeling a bit tattered.”

The 43-year-old said Cardiff could learn from cities elsewhere in Europe.

Student accommodation

Sean Partridge, who runs Unit 17 Store, said the city centre had changed considerably during his four years in business – and “not all for the better”.

He pointed to the growth of student accommodation in and around the centre.

While bringing more people into Cardiff was positive for businesses, he argued that rising costs were making it increasingly difficult for permanent residents to live there.

Mr Partridge also believes investment has sometimes been concentrated in particular parts of the city at the expense of others.

He cited the emerging Brewery Quarter as an example of an “up and coming area”, contrasting it with parts of Queen Street and the area around St David’s shopping centre.

Speaking about Queen Street, he said: “Even the flooring, how rocky it is. You can see how dirty it is.”

He also criticised the condition of Central Square outside Cardiff Central railway station – one of the main gateways into the city.

“It looked lovely when they first did it, but now you walk outside the train station and the floor can be absolutely stinking,” he said.

“I walked out [of the station] and my feet were sticking to the floor.”

But not everyone believes Cardiff is heading in the wrong direction.

Stacey Pike, a self-described “constant frequenter of Cardiff”, said the city had improved significantly.

The 38-year-old, who lives in Barry, recalled Cardiff previously being “very smoggy”, “very dirty” and “very claustrophobic”.

“It has gotten a hundred times better,” she said, adding that the city now felt tidier.

She did, however, raise concerns about crime, saying she had witnessed people having mobile phones snatched from their hands.

Visitors to Cardiff were also generally more positive about the city.

Stephen Brake, 69, was born in Wales but spent much of his childhood in the United States and returns to Cardiff every couple of years.

He said the city appeared to improve each time he visited and “seems like it’s doing all right”.

Mr Brake said the area around Cardiff Central had “changed quite remarkably” and described the capital as having a “nice upbeat feel”.

He called Cardiff a “nice modern city” and said there was an “enormous difference” between the Cardiff Bay he remembered as a child and the area today.

‘Leisurely’

Frequent visitors Mike and Lori Toms, from Somerset, expressed similar views.

Mike, 78, said: “It’s improving every time we come, it gets a lot better.”

He said he preferred Cardiff to London, which he described as “too fast and too big”.

The publican described Cardiff as “more enjoyable, more leisurely with lovely entertainment”.

His wife Lori, 61, who is originally from the United States, praised Cardiff’s public transport and said getting around compared favourably with similarly sized American cities.

She said: “[In America], you pretty much have to fly everywhere, then hire a car or take a taxi. Whereas here, you can just take a train right into central.”

She added that visitors could easily walk, take a bus or use the train to travel around Cardiff.

However, one of the city’s longest-established tourism businesses believes Cardiff is failing visitors in another respect.

Bob Rice, 75, has run Castle Welsh Crafts since 1978 and has traded from Castle Street since 1982.

He said tourists regularly entered his shop looking for a visitor information centre.

“We’re getting tourists coming in here and asking ‘where is your tourist information centre?’ and unfortunately we have to say to them ‘Well, there isn’t one’,” he said.

“We’re having our North American friends come in quite regularly and [they] seem quite surprised, almost shocked that we don’t have a really organised tourism information set-up here in the capital city of Wales.”

Cardiff Council rejected suggestions that the capital was falling behind other cities and disputed a number of the criticisms.

A spokesperson said: “While Cardiff, like all cities, faces challenges, many of the claims being made are either questionable or simply untrue.

“Suggestions that Cardiff is ‘behind the curve’ are incorrect. Recent research by Avison Young shows that Cardiff is outperforming all other major UK cities for footfall, attributing this success to continued city centre investment, new retail and hospitality openings, and a growing visitor economy.”

The council said there was also no evidence to support claims that city centre footfall had fallen because permanent residents had been displaced by students.

It added that students made a “valuable contribution” to Cardiff’s economy.

Responding to concerns about cleanliness, the authority said Street Scene Enforcement Officers worked in the city centre every day and that dedicated cleansing teams now operated seven days a week following a recent restructure.

It said street-washing had also been increased, including regular cleaning of Central Square.

The council said it continued to invest in the city centre, pointing to the Canal Quarter and improvements to the transport and highway network.

Visitor levy

On the absence of a tourist information centre, it said revenue from a future visitor levy could potentially be used to improve visitor information services if there was support from the tourism and hospitality sector.

The spokesperson added: “As with any major infrastructure improvements, some disruption is unavoidable, and we thank residents, businesses and visitors for their patience while this work is carried out.”

Cardiff was officially made the capital of Wales in 1955 and has been transformed in the decades since, from the redevelopment of Cardiff Bay to major changes in the city centre.

The differing views of those who use it suggest the debate now is not whether Cardiff has changed, but whether all parts of the capital are keeping pace.

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