I spent the weekend in the Lake District, and on the Sunday we went into a little town called Grange-over-sands.
There was one particular run of shops opposite the station that still had an original (seemingly) victorian cast iron and glass covering over the pavement.


Where in Cardiff do we have nice original features like this still visible? and where have some been lost, that could perhaps be someday restored?

I suppose the Central Market, and the Arcades in town still some original features, anywhere else?

First time I ever saw that type of structure was as a child over a parade of shops in Colwyn Bay. Don't know if it is still there.

Since, I have seen it in many places in Sussex and Hampshire but never in Cardiff? They often seem to be prone to lack of repair and are pulled down.

Llandudno has a lot of these - I think they're associated with seaside resorts rather than cities or towns.

Well the Grove in Ilkley, Cavendish Street in Keighley and much of Harrogate town centre have these features and they are all towns which are nowhere near the sea.
Colour Wolf,I've been to Grange-over-sands a couple of times,it is utterly charming! I had a game of pitch and putt and I think that there are municipal tennis courts next to the golf course. On that coast many of the resorts do have shops with Victorian/Edwardian awnings,Lord street in Southport being particularly famous and there are examples in Blackpool,Morecambe and Silloth too.

Is it likely that Cardiff would have been considered a dirty industrial town and never really had many of these, rather than them being lost in the years since?
I suppose if anywhere somewhere like penarth would have been more likely?

The railway station at grange over sands is equally lovely, it's up high with views down into a park on one side and across morecombe bay on the other.
http://www.urban75.org/photos/lake-district/grange-over-sands-station.html
I'm no train nerd, but it would have been spectacular to see big steam engines going through there.

Heres a definitive answer to your question.

You bet we had some lovely victorian cast iron walkways in Cardiff. However in true 1960's style these were wiped away in the name of brutal modernism.

Case in point is the original 1887 Queen Street station, which had ornate cast iron walkways along with a glass trainshed and stunning building. Breaks my heart seeing the pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/taffytank/6189500691/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/opobs/5442412588/

What were they thinking!