I had a shock when I saw the current state of the old BHS when I walked past today. It's a near total demolition job really isn't it? All that currently remains are the original pilings and a roof!

I felt the same. It seems pretty much a new build.

I think it was food hall (ie a John Lewis branded Waitrose) rather than a food court.

Fat Face have closed their outlet in the Capitol centre. No surprise there.

I went in there the other day and the ground floor is not looking as bereft as it once did although there are still a number of empty units and units occupied by what look like temporary operations. Tesco, Pret and Poundland/Poundworld seem to have made a difference.

Old stories about it:

http://www.retail-week.com/john-lewis-food-hall-targets-16325m-sales/120538.article

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/business/business-news/food-menu-john-lewis-2185311

Upmarket menswear retailer Dalvey is looking to expand and has instructed Harper Dennis Hobbs to help it find new stores across the UK.

Dalvey sells luxury men’s apparel and designer accessories and gift including watches, cufflinks and hipflasks. It has a flagship store on Dublin’s Grafton Street. It also sells its products on its own website.

It is targeting shops of 1,000-2,000 sq ft in high footfall areas in London’s West End and the City, as well as Birmingham, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester.

Dalvey was founded in the Highlands of Scotland in 1897 as a bagpipe manufacturer. It now exports its wide range of products to the US, Europe, Oceania and the Middle East.

Two more units have been let in Barrack Lane - Magic Wrap (sandwich place) and Lollypop (not sure what they will be selling). Only two units left (assuming Waen Brewery ever actually open).

It looks like the development will be be let mostly to food places which isn't surprising given that Admiral and 3,000 staff are likely to be on their doorstep fairly soon.

There is a new plus sized shop in Capitol called "Taking Shape". It's an Australian chain and they are apparently launching 30 high street shops in the UKbefore Christmas.

I'm not sure it's going to do much for Capitol to be honest. It would've been a perfect fit ten years ago, but anything fashion is St David's domain now, or Queen Street at least.

I'm not sure it's a perfect brand fit for 'Taking Shape' either, next to a Soho Coffee and in sight of a gym.

Barrack Lane is seeing a handful of openings that, once complete, will leave it feeling more full than empty. There has been a hairdressers and sandwich shop for a few months now. Recently the Grazing shed (burger place) opened, currently a Magic Wrap (sandwiches) is being fitted out, there is a 'coming soon' advert for a childrens hairdressers, and an application for an alcohol license in another (I think we have discussed this before, it is from a small brewery looking for a outlet for its stuff if I remember rightly?). Still a couple of units with no evidence of movement.

I wonder why all this change of late? I wonder if there has been a change to the odd policy that they had that new tenants had to relocate after five years, or whether they have had an advertising push, or whether they have dropped their rates? I doubt that store owners are expecting the Admiral build will open soon and supply trade, it still looks some time off.

I'm surprised Barrack Lane has taken so long to fill. It seems Cardiff lacks the critical mass / population for minority destination shops - businesses that people will seek out because of particular interests.

I'm thinking of things like Catholic, Islamic & Welsh language booksellers, vegan cafes, goth and punk fashion, particular hobbies etc. Those sort of businesses do exist in secondary shopping centres and it's suprising none of them have bitten at the opportunity of a city-centre presence.

Might the reason for that be that such businesses operate 'on a shoe string' so to speak and couldn't afford city centre rental prices!?

I looked at renting a unit on Barrack lane when it first opened and was quoted £17k to £21k p.a. Needless to say I didn't bother. However once Admiral opens these units should house profitable businesses. I walked past yesterday and the cafes were all full at 1:30 pm.

There is an application in for the former Peacocks unit on the corner of Queen St/Parl Place. The proposal is to split the unit between Greggs (entrance on Park Place) and Costa Coffee (entrance on Queen St). Better than an empty unit I suppose but just how many Greggs and Costa Coffee's can one city centre support?

There is also an application for a bagel place in St Davids - the unit between Build a Bear and Cex I think.

Greggs back it its old unit? or is that now the entrance to vitality? either way i remember it being there years ago on park place (probably whilst River Island was there)

Any news on whats happening with the Habitat unit? Are Miller & Carter taking up a segment of the unit? Has anyone seen the unit split plans?

If it is being split up into restaurant units, I would love to see the return of Hard Rock taking up some space. I went to the Manchester restaurant yesterday and there was a 2 hour + wait for tables and a packed bar. Hard rock certainly hasn't lost its touch, I just think its Cardiff premises were not right for them. Cardiff has grown so much since the closure of Hard Rock on Mary Street. I dont think their Brewery Quarter unit was the right unit for the restaurant as it was so out of the way from the shopping hustle and bustle, however I think Hard Rock Cafe would do extremely well on The Hayes! The footfall is much greater in and around St Davids and I think they could create a stand out unit if they took the front/largest unit!

Hard Rock have just opened a cafe in Glasgow on the cities busiest shopping street - Surely a Hard Rock Cafe on The Hayes wouldn't be too impossible...

With F&B and TGI's doing so well in Cardiff right now, surely this would be the right time for Hard Rock to return? What do you guy's think?

Personally, Hard Rock Cafes strike me as being incredibly naff. But if they're popular still, why not. Better than an empty unit / half-unit, I suppose.

Didn't realise there were so few Hard Rock Cafe's in the UK with only restaurants in London, Edinburgh, Manchester and Glasgow currently. The Hard Rock Cafe's in Belfast, Birmingham, Leeds, Nottingham and the one in our Brewery Quarter all closing in the past couple of years.

Yeah I remember when there used to be more, their heyday seemed to be in the 90s. Like you said lots of them shut down not that long ago. Never been in one, so dunno if that was due to them being crap.

I'd prefer a Rainforest Cafe in Cardiff!

Some St Mary Street related news -

Celli's - which appears to be a hairdressers - is due to open in the old Rohan unit next to the Cottage

Wok to Walk has made an application for 42 St Mary St which is next to Subways and used to be a Bargain Booze or something similar. It's a rather nice four storey building which if looked after and painted could be very attractive but currently has the appearance of being abandoned by it's owner.

Pieminister - looks like an upmarket pie and mash shop - have made an application for the old Toni and Guy unit near the entrance to Morgan Arcade. Apparently they are making this their flagship outlet and spending 150k.

Does that mean Wok to Walk are moving (walking!) a few doors down the street from their current premises to a new site?

Sorry - it may be Wok to Go, Wok and Woll, Wok's Going On, Wok's Love Got to Do With It - or something with Wok in the title. The application doesn't mention them already having existing premises so I'm assuming that it's a new outfit.

Other retail news - William Hills are kitting out their exciting new outlet next to the Owain Glyndwr. Previously customers would have had to walk past two Bet Fred's, two Ladbrokes, a Paddy Power and a Coral to access their other outlet in St Mary Street, so this has come not a minute too soon.

Also there was an application for change of use to A3 for the unit previously occupied by the Works in Church Street. Looks like this street will be dominated by eateries soon, with only Poundstretcher carrying the retail flag.

There is an application for change of use to A3 for 11 High st. This used to be the Antics model shop close to the entrance to the High St arcade.

The application is on behalf of Vinitalia which is the company behind Casanova restaurant. It seems like the application is for a wine bar/restaurant with (I think) off sales of Italian produce. I'm not sure if this will mean that the Casanova restaurant in Quay Street will close or not.

If this does go ahead then it will cement the High St/Quay St/Church St axis as a dining destination, with some pretty decent independent eateries plus the national chains. High St retail is now of the specialist variety - High and Mighty, Cranes, Kitchens, the Uni bookshop, fancy dress store, tattoo parlour, Games Workshop, jeweller etc - which is probably for the best as the retail offering is not in competition with most of whats on offer in St Davids and Queen Street.

Bristol Cabot Circus have just scored one over St Davids Cardiff! Pull & Bear are opening their second store outside of London at Cabot Circus! I had high hopes that Cardiff would have been high on the agenda, but I cant imagine them opening a third out of london Pull and Bear store so close to their second :/

Disappointing - would have been a coup for Cardiff!

Walesonline is reporting that St David''s is taking £2million a day? Is that right? That sounds like a huge amount to take in a day.

As for Pull & Bear, why have the 2nd store outside London when you could still have the 1st store in Wales!!

I think sales in the centre are around the £430 million mark... so around £1 million a day during most of the year, and £2 million around Christmas. To be honest, its rather low given the size of the centre and the centre catchment. The John Lewis is outsold by smaller stores in Kingston, Cribbs, Reading, Cambridge and even High Wycombe!!

In other news... Helical Bar's half year statement contains the following update on Morgan Quarter, which seems quite positive. Rent levels up about 1/3 on 2008 (probably reflecting it now being a stronger pitch), and some office conversions on upper floors at some pretty good rental levels.

The Morgan Quarter, Cardiff

We are close to agreeing the outstanding rent reviews on The Hayes with Molton Brown and White Stuff at figures consistent with the Jack Wills letting and previous rent reviews. These will show an increase of circa £80,000pa in aggregate and rental growth of 34% between 2008 and 2013. Two lettings on the recently pedestrianised St Mary's Street have set encouraging new rental levels, circa 33% above previous levels, and letting activity continues in the two listed Arcades. We are also progressing the Creative Quarter, a project to bring approximately 18,000 sq ft of redundant upper parts back into office use. We have already agreed terms to let phase one of this at rents above appraisal levels (circa £17.50 psf).

It's a spanish company, and as there is a lot of spaniards living in and around Bristol perhaps they thought it would be a safe bet?

what you are missing is that Pull & Bear would be filling a unit... doubt it will take a Cardiff store with it being so close to Bristol, so therefore units are remaining empty.

irrelevant of what clothes they sell....

Pieminister is more of a coup really. They have become very trendy with a lot of high profile celebrity fans including David Beckham, Kate Moss and John Cleese. I believe they're Bristol based too so to put their flagship in Cardiff is quite something.

Pull and Bear is just a relatively low cost clothes retailer. Similarly the likes of Bershka and Aeropostale. It would be good if any of them were here as it would fill up empty units, a few extra jobs and add more choice for shoppers and that's the obviously the same for any potential new store. There's certainly no reason price wise that they wouldn't do well. We have plenty of other brands where people are happy to buy their clothes from that are far more expensive.

I've always been curious why such brands don't come to the city when their products are easily affordable and aren't that different to what's already here.

Maybe we haven't got a good reputation for trying new brands ? Does anyone know why ?

Thinking about it,and admittedly I know next to nothing about clothes shops, but I won't let that stop me.... Springfield opened (and closed) in the centre. Springfield is also a Spanish clothing operation (I think) so possibly their experience has put off Pull&Bear? Maybe they have the same parent co?

We have a lot of Pull & Bear shops here in London, at first you think wow amazing clothes at good prices, then u get them home and realise the fit is shit, the belts fall apart, the shirts buttons fall of and the worst is the chino's, the arse wears on the back of the knees! i would never recomend that shop again!

It'd be nice to see an American Apparel in Cardiff.