Categories:
Arguably the best-preserved arcade on the South Coast, Royal Arcade in Worthing is celebrating its centenary in 2025, and is looking a lot better than many other arcades built in the 1920s. One end of the arcade looks out towards the sea and the end of Worthing Pier. The other fronts on to South Street,…
Categories:
Stone arches at either end of Littlehampton’s Arcade show the year the arcade was built – 1922 – and the year it was proudly renovated – 1992. There are attractive murals over the internal wall at one end, showing images of Littlehampton – a lighthouse, beach huts, deck chairs; and in one empty unit a…
Categories:
Milan’s Galeria Vittorio Emanuele is breathtaking in its beauty, and mind-blowing in its magnitude. It surely can lay claim to being the most stunning arcade in the world (though I’m happy to hear counter-arguments if any readers don’t agree). Of course, it had the advantage over its prestigious predecessors in London and Paris by being…
Categories:
Fountain Arcade in Dudley has recently benefited from funding to spruce up its two frontages, one with red brick and stone features and the other a much clearer art deco style façade with the name and the year it was built – 1925 – standing clear for all to see. These are the best features…
Categories:
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…
Categories:
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:…
Categories:
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…
Categories:
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…
Categories:
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…
Categories:
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:…
Categories:
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…
Categories:
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…
Categories:
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…
Categories:
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…
Categories:
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…
Categories:
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…
Categories:
Royal Arcade is the oldest arcade in Leicester by over 20 years. It’s only short, and only has a handful of shops, but it has a cosy feel, with less grandeur than its neighbour the Silver Arcade, but also a sense of great potential if the vintage feel was built upon. The year 1877 is…
Categories:
Leicester’s Silver Arcade is a magnificent 4-storey building, with superb balconies running along each floor, looking down on the main walkway, which runs from Silver Street to Cank Street. There are a few anomalies around its exact vintage, however. The claim in glass above the main entrance now declares ‘1899,’ and Margaret MacKeith agrees with…
Categories:
The Victorian Arcade in Walsall, just north west of Birmingham, was built in 1896, though it was originally known locally just as The Arcade, and then Digbeth Arcade. It has three entrances and is in the form of a T, the most impressive facade being on Bradford Street, which has a first floor verandah with…
Categories:
Montpellier Arcade in Cheltenham is one of the oldest arcades in the UK, dating back to 1832, but I reckon half the residents of this beautiful spa town in the Cotswolds don’t even know it exists, and as for visitors, there is nothing to indicate any historic value in this vintage arcade, so it’s very…
Categories:
Opened almost 100 years ago in 1927, Peterborough’s Westgate Arcade has kept its vintage charm, while the mega multi-storey Queensgate shopping mall grew up next door. There are two floors to this arcade, with a balcony running the full length of the arcade, marked by impressive pillars, which might well be decorative as much as…
Categories:
Hitchin’s little arcade near the town’s market place dates from the mid-1920s. Footfall was good at the time of my visit on a mid-summer Friday morning, though the presence of eateries in the arcade suggests it might be just as busy in the evenings, too. It’s not named after a local dignitary or businessman; in…
Categories:
Letchworth’s arcade, like its neighbour Hitchin, dates from the mid-1920s, but this is a bright, cheerful arcade, well-looked-after and has the feel of a real, functioning arcade, with its glass ceiling all along its length, which bends in the middle, and has a glass roof also over the central section, in the same style as…
Categories:
Of all the remaining arcades in Greater London, the Grand Arcade in North Finchley defies its name, and is probably the least grand of those half dozen survivors. It was built in the 1930s, which means by definition it was from the art deco era, though there are not many original features left to make…
Categories:
The arcade in Leadenhall Market dates from 1881. It was apparently modelled on Milan’s famous Victor Emanuele Gallery, though it has always had a very different feel from Milan’s glamorous arcade. Once known for the place you’d get ‘fur and feathers,’ Leadenhall Market arcade today is a bit more of a foodie’s paradise, with Tapas…
Categories:
The Arcade in Barnsley dates from 1891 and is basically a cobbled street with a glass roof over most of it. A blue plaque at one end of the arcade tells us that you once had to mind your back, and your toes, as horses and carriages would pass down this passage like a normal…
Categories:
Byram Arcade in Huddersfield is unique in having three storeys, all of which have active businesses operating still today, unlike the handful of other arcades around the UK which can claim to climb up three floors. The glass ceiling was repaired in 2024, bringing brightness and light back to this thriving arcade full of independent,…
Categories:
Jones’ Arcade is a short simple arcade built in 1912 in this small Welsh Valleys town just north of Cardiff. There’s only a handful of shops, nearly all catering for different aspects of health and beauty, so quite a change from when the arcade first opened. Ystrad Mynach would hardly be the sort of place…
Categories:
It’s hard to imagine that this 1920s arcade was once the Welsh hub for the worldwide film industry, with every reel of film doing the rounds of cinemas making its way through this arcade at the height of the movie era. There’s a nice 1921 logo at both ends of the arcade, though the name…
Categories:
The entrance to Duke Street Arcade in Cardiff is in a prime location directly opposite the magnificent walls of Cardiff Castle. Cardiff’s only Edwardian arcade is actually a short arm shooting off from the longer High St Arcade (which will receive a separate entry on An Arcades Project). The arcade was home to two main…