ARCADES PROJECT

It’s hard to believe today that when City Arcade opened in 1901 it was part of a planned series of arcades that took shoppers under cover through the streets of Birmingham’s city centre. Much of the area ended up as rubble after a massive bomb attack in April 1941, but a small stretch of City…

The star features of Birmingham’s 1920s arcade, Piccadilly Arcade, are surely the sloping floor, which follows the course of the cinema auditorium which preceded the arcade on this site, and the ceiling murals, which date from 1991, but paint striking images of Birmingham life. There are lots of classic arcade small businesses in this arcade:…

Approaching its 150th anniversary, Birmingham’s Great Western Arcade has survived being bombed in the Blitz, and has undergone several renovations since the war, but has retained its Victorian feel and is still a busy walkway between Snow Hill station and the city centre. One of the entrances was destroyed by a bomb in 1940, though…

The glass roof over Dewsbury’s Kingsway and its near neighbour Queensway is quite the eye-catcher, drawing the gaze upwards and skywards. There are high, arched stone entrances bearing the names of these covered streets, which were not originally arcades, as the glass ceiling only came some 25 years after the buildings went up. Dewsbury town…

The arcade in the Welsh Valleys town of Abertillery has been a little hub of this old mining community since it opened in the 1890s. It has three Welsh red dragons looking over the entrance in Commercial Street. It’s only a simple arcade, with glass ceiling and iron gates at either end, but this is…

Windsor Arcade in Penarth is another late-Victorian arcade along this stretch of the South Wales coast with so many vintage arcades. None of the original tenants from 125 years ago are still there, but some of the things they sell and trades they practised are still the same in 2024 as they were in 1899:…

The Market Arcade in Newport is the second oldest arcade in Wales, and older than its stylish neighbour the Newport Arcade by some 25 years. But, in spite of Lottery Fund investment and renovation in recent years, many of the beautiful units lie empty The barber has been in place for a dozen years, and…

Newport Arcade is a small, late-Victorian gem in this South Wales town a few miles east of Cardiff. The facade at the (Market) street end has a stone archway over the entrance, with the name Newport Arcade in classy black over the walkway. There are beautiful original spiral staircases in most of the shop units…

High Street Arcade in Cardiff’s ‘Castle Quarter’ is unique for its curving swerving shape as it makes its way from High Street through to St John Street. The High Street entrance is very grand, with a decorated archway and elaborate moulding in the stonework arches above the first floor windows. There are two balconies also…

Wyndham Arcade was one of many arcades in Cardiff built in the 1880s. Thankfully it survived suggestions that it be demolished 100 years later, and now stands as a busy walk-through from St Mary Street to near the main Cardiff Library. It doesn’t have the grandeur of the Castle Arcade, nor the splendour of the…

When Castle Arcade opened in 1889, the Mayor of Cardiff at the time said it was ‘equal, if not surpassing in appearance all of its predecessors.’ Many would argue that the same applies 135 years later. This is an L-shaped arcade close to Cardiff Castle, with shops and offices over four storeys, so equal in…

Ayr’s Lorne Arcade has had a new lease of life this year, with a complete makeover, newly-renovated shop units and almost full occupancy in an arcade that has good footfall through from Ayr’s main shopping street to a large car park. There aren’t many original features left from this arcade’s late 19th century days, except…