Pubocalypse 9

Pandemic fall-out is likely to mean that a lot of the pubs ‘temporarily’ closed during lockdown will never open again. The random, spontaneous social mixing intrinsic to a public house …

Welsh lives matter

Leader of Cardiff council Huw Thomas has supported the totally justified calls by the Black Lives Matter movement for the removal from City Hall of the statue of murderous slave …

Flora Cardiffia

I regularly used to drive up and down the M4 between London and Wales in the 1970s and 1980s, initially on a motorbike and subsequently in a car. When I …

Parish pimp

Other than parts of Cardiff Castle, the solitary building left in Cardiff city centre that predates the industrial revolution is the parish church of St John the Baptist. As such, …

Juxtaposition

Cold-blooded creepy-crawlies, battery-driven hot air and…wait for it…branches of Reptile Cymru and Totally Wicked… Picture: Dic Mortimer

Cardiff’s lost buildings 2

Convent of the Good Shepherd Tŷ Gwyn Road William Burges (1827-1881) is recognised today as one of the greatest architects of the 19th century, if not of all time. The …

Women of the streets

There are numerous streets bearing female names in Cardiff, particularly in the inner city. Have you ever wondered why? It isn’t the result of any feminist, egalitarian or emancipatory principles, …

Pubocalypse 8

BUFFALO BAR Windsor Place In Cardiff’s dysfunctional, parasitic economy, predicated on personal debt, profligate unsustainability, Ponzi-scheme profiteering and fly-by-night transience, the last few defiant flickers of independent nonconformity are being …

Cardiff’s lost buildings 1

Starting an occasional strand examining some of the most noteworthy Cardiff buildings that no longer exist. Central Fire Station Westgate Street Back in the 18th century Cardiff’s first fire service …

Urban rats

Note: In this post the word ‘rat’ is not a metaphor for cad, cheat, nark, traitor or general bastard, of which there are plenty in Cardiff – well, not explicitly …