ARCADES PROJECT

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…

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…

The Royal Arcade in Cardiff dates from either 1859 or 1870, depending on sources. It’s a long, relatively-narrow arcade running over 100m from St Mary Street to The Hayes, but very light due to the glass ceiling running virtually the full length and across the whole width of the arcade. It has a mix of…

Morgan Arcade in Cardiff was built in the late 1890s in a rather unique form with one long passageway from St Mary Street then two arms, with one curving pleasantly round to the left, ending at The Hayes, and the right arm ending in an alleyway, though not to be missed, as it has a…

The Grand Arcade in Leeds is about five minutes walk from the other arcades in Leeds, but it pre-dates most of them and still has the original clock from 1898, though the imperial characters who used to mark every hour by marching across the front no longer move, even though the clock does still tell…

It’s hard to imagine today that Boscombe’s beautiful Victorian arcade used to host daily concerts, with an organ, an orchestra and singers on the balcony. It reminded me of Southport’s wonderful Wayfarers’ Arcade in the sense that it has seen better days, though I think even the Southport arcade has more connection back to its…

This 1880s arcade in the Westbourne district of Bournemouth was built by the same man as had been behind Bournemouth’s first arcade in the town centre. It’s a lovely arcade, with a slight bend in the walkway – and glass ceiling – along its 100 metres plus length. It’s one of the few fully-tenanted arcades…

The oldest arcade in Bournemouth was built in the 1860s, with the glass roof going up in the early 1870s. It’s a simple walkway in the centre of the town about 100 metres long. There’s an interesting mix of shops today from the oldest resident, Chas. Fox, the jeweller’s, here for over 100 years, to…

Krüger Passage in Dortmund was built in 1912 by the latest in this family of printers and booksellers, who ran a local newspaper and had a bookshop which ran the whole length of one side of the arcade when it opened. Sadly, that bookshop closed in 2009 after 97 years of business in the arcade…

Stockholm’s only vintage shopping arcade was built in the 1890s and supposedly modelled on what was then the magnificent Kaisergalerie in Berlin, although it’s impossible to compare now as Berlin’s arcades didn’t survive the destruction of World War 2. Birger Jarlspassagen was never very long in the first place, measuring only about 40m, with just…

Cross Arcade in Leeds’ Victoria Quarter sits perpendicular to the larger County Arcade, rather like in Brussels the Passage des Princes sits astride the more glamorous Galeries du Roi and de la Reine. It was built at the same time as County Arcade, opening slightly later in 1902, but with a very similar entrance and…