if
it's about Cardiff..
Sport, Entertainment, Transportation, Business,
Development Projects, Leisure, Eating, Drinking,
Nightlife, Shopping, Train Spotting! etc.. then we want it here!
I can only speak for myself but I and most people I know avoid the big places on St Mary's St like the plague. Admittedly we are all in our 30's and beyond so probably not the right demographic.
When I first started going out in the Diff it was several pints of bitter in proper pubs then pay a few quid to get into either a/ little shitholes like Monties or b/ big shitholes like the Studio or Coco Savannahs. The only point in going was to try and cop off. The DJ was someone who played records and someway down the pecking order behind the bouncers and the bar staff. These were the days before house music had hit Cardiff and people still danced to Simple Minds. Honest.
These days there is live music, bars that stay open until 3am and beyond, pubs that have impromptu clubs in upstairs rooms, even my local stay open until after midnight on the weekends. No wonder places like the Square and Liquid are biting the dust.
I get the feeling - and it's been expressed elsewhere on this forum - that the average joe is becoming more discerning in his or her nocturnal activities and is fairly tired of the barn like beer factories manned by security with attitude and filled with hen/stag parties desperately trying to have a great time. I haven't got a clue about clubs and I reckon 90% of the people out there don't either but I certainly feel that a night out in Cardiff is more eclectic, and a bit more interesting than it has been in the past.
The guy in the background in the last photo is a former work colleague of mine, and none other than the son of the vicar who takes all those lovely photos of the Hayes...
Liquid was full of pretentious twats with too much fake tan and steroids, like someone said above the last proper dirty club was emporium.
Cardiff is pretty shit for proper hard stuff - Club X sometimes has good DJs
There seem to be alot more good smaller venues now and it might not be a bad thing if a few of these crappy neon lit bright whitewashed celeb clubs bit the dust.
Give me a dark dingy venue with some mental 60 year old dancing with his top off anyday
Sounds like a good plan to me. Hopefully the units are fairly lettable being a nice throughroute between SD2 and Central Station.
I wish the arcades were shopped more though. Cardiffians, and particularly those from the Valleys, seem to ignore a great resource on their doorstep. A case in point. Lipsy clothes (a brand for women) were sold in a few independent stores including Floyds. None of these stores seemed particularly busy and the brand wasn't that much. Lipsy open up a rather tacky looking store next to Next and when I've gone past (at Christmas) it was always really busy. The independent fashion sector, for men in particular, has shrunk quite considerably in the city centre. People need to shop there more!
Kiwis/the arcades could well have had problems with the smoking ban & whether punters really could smoke in the arcade as an 'outside' area (which they did do...).
Bad news, although I didn't go there much, it was an interesting little place.
It's biggest problem though, that was so obvious was that you couldn't see into it from the outside. It needed opening out a bit so you could see the bar from the outside and could judge how good it is, and also see people sat inside.
It seems like that building is doomed. Thats Undeb, Sugar, Calcutta Club and now the Toucan all failed.
Can anyone think of any other doomed places? That unit in Golate House that was Crunch, Tabu and something else always seems to fail. The small restaurant unit in the Brewery Quarter that is now Porto Due has had umpteen different incarnations all of them lasting 6 months or less. Likewise the unit on Caroline St that was Crockertons, then kebab shop, then upmarket pie and mash and now appears to be pizza/chips/kebab hybrid.
I wonder what makes these places, seemingly well located, fail when it would seem easier to succeed?
The menu on their website looks nice, middle price bracket. It's good to see some slightly more up market restaurants opening in Cardiff, too many high street chains at present.
Whats that small unit in Mermaid Quay next to Wagamamas? Well anyway, I noticed a sign in the window there yesterday. Something about a new wine bar coming soon, with a big (slightly cheesy) image of a champagne bottle etc.
Theres something vaguely 1980s about the term "wine bar". It makes me think of men with slicked back hair, women with big hair and shoulder pads, and spandau ballet on the sound system.
Hopefully this is a bar but not something quite so cheesy as this! It would be good to get some more night life in Mermaid Quay to compliment the two big Brains places and ba orient.
Theres something vaguely 1980s about the term "wine bar". It makes me think of men with slicked back hair, women with big hair and shoulder pads, and spandau ballet on the sound system.
Hopefully this is a bar but not something quite so cheesy as this! It would be good to get some more night life in Mermaid Quay to compliment the two big Brains places and ba orient.
nowt wrong with the 80's wine bar, think delboy in only fools and horses. thats what it was like
I think it could do well if it's marketed well and nicely done out, and perhaps gets the pricing right. It is a pigs ear of a unit though, with no balcony and perpetually in the shade.
It does overlook the Millennium Centre and Oval Basin, but when you are in Cardiff Bay (or any other waterside location) you really want to be by the water I think..oh well, we'll see.
Cardiff bars that explicitly go for the VIP market tend not to last long. I think its better to try and present yourself as just a good quality bar rather than a VIP one. It excludes people, makes you look like you are up your own arse. how many VIPs in cardiff are there?
With the sports stars, politicians, Welsh TV types, visiting artists doing shows/gigs and those connected to the various shows being filmed here there is not an inconsiderable amount of 'faces' knocking about the Bay, but yeah it's plainly stupid to market yourself as a VIP bar. It's not 1983, and who wants to class themselves as VIP anyway without sounding like an uber-knob head.
Best just to try and be a decent place, advertise a reasonable amount and let word of mouth do the rest.
Yeah, VIP bar is just as 1980s as a "wine bar". I'd say it could find a niche as a place offering really great cocktails - something Cardiff seems to lack.
Yeah, VIP bar is just as 1980s as a "wine bar". I'd say it could find a niche as a place offering really great cocktails - something Cardiff seems to lack.
Live Lounge on the Friary has reached red of the polices traffic light system, meaning lots of crime and the police have put them forward for re-assessment by the council licensing commitee:
i was a bit surprised that of all the places in the city that this is the one being put forward. That said, it does seem to be very successful with lots of custom.
I go to Live Lounge quite regularly and I've personally never seen any trouble. In fact I find it to be one of the best places to go in terms of a friendly atmosphere!
I go to Live Lounge quite regularly and I've personally never seen any trouble. In fact I find it to be one of the best places to go in terms of a friendly atmosphere!
I couldn't agree more. It's a great venue. And reading the report, it seems the police's methods of awarding these 'cards' is fundementally flawed. Their absurd policy of linking any trouble on the street to the nearest venue also encourages clubs to group together (a la St Mary Street).
It would be a joke if the place lost it's licence, so hopefully this is just Echo scaremongering.
I think the issue may be those who are turned away from the club/bar. Whilst it may seem unfair to blame the bar for their behaviour, if the presence of the bar is attracting people who cause trouble to the vicinity of the place, even if they are not allowed in, it is still causing a nuisance. In the absence of that bar, that trouble wouldn't be occuring.
Unless it's the existence of Ha Ha, Steam Bar or more likely the Crockerton just round the corner whose patrons probably use the Friary as a cut through to St Mary St that is causing problems.
"Live Lounge opened last autumn following the demise of Bar Cuba and holds a maximum of 280 people"
That's a lie! I used to go in there all the time but stopped going a few weeks back because the overcrowding was doing my head in!
It never got that busy when it was Cuba, but since it's name changed they seem to be filling the place to bursting point!
I stopped going because it was becoming very easy to get served at the bar, but impossible to bring your drink back with you!
On those occasions there have easily been closer to 400 people in there!
"Unless it's the existence of Ha Ha, Steam Bar or more likely the Crockerton just round the corner whose patrons probably use the Friary as a cut through to St Mary St that is causing problems."
I'm not saying other people may not be causing problems. The police are saying people in trouble are reporting having been in or trying to attend the Live Lounge. The bar's excuse isn't that the trouble is caused by patrons of the other nearby bars but that "we turn away many people every night because we think they may cause trouble". So they think a large number of the people trying to get in are trouble-makers so their presence may be causing problems.
Haven't seen anyone posting on this - the Duke of Wellington in the Hayes (the red brick pub on the corner) is having what looks like an overdue complete gutting and refurbishment.
Good news methinks. If done tidy like, with an outside seating area then it should 'add' to the streetscape.
Haven't seen anyone posting on this - the Duke of Wellington in the Hayes (the red brick pub on the corner) is having what looks like an overdue complete gutting and refurbishment.
Good news methinks. If done tidy like, with an outside seating area then it should 'add' to the streetscape.
definitely good news. one of the few remaining city centre traditional pubs.
definitely good news. one of the few remaining city centre traditional pubs.
heh, dont speak too soon. They are undergoing a re-fit as we speak and who knows what it'll end up like!
Although I do hope that it does end up as a real quality traditional pub. Sometimes pubs try and re-create the old look but get it wrong. But I hope here they try and do it well. The building deserves it.
But who knows, they could be fitting it out as a 1980s style VIP wine bar.
Apparently the Pen and Wig is threatened with closure, despite seeming very successful. The regional management for the chain wants to turn it into a restaurant. The traditional pub really is on decline when they start pulling the plug on the successful ones!
The staff in the pub are running a petition against the change. Its possible that they will all loose their jobs as new restaurant staff are brought in.
According to an advert in the Metro the bar run by Gio's on Mill Lane will be called Amici and is described as being 'exclusive'. Italian style tapas, fine wines, cocktails, champagne.
Hmmm. I like forward to the first 'I was assaulted by Craig Bellamy/Mike Phillips/Charlotte Church' type headlines. Not my cup of tea.
On the subject of the Pen and Wig the place has always been packed to the rafters when I've been there even on a Sunday. Despite it being a bit out of the way. As you say if this place can't cut it economically what hope do other trad style pubs have?
