ARCADES PROJECT

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 is well-established, with a tattoo parlour up the way and a new skin care shop across the arcade. There is a lively-looking bar and night club in what was originally the fishmonger’s who had the arcade built in 1869. But far too many of the shop units are unoccupied, despite low rents which would make a tenant of Burlington Arcade in London cry with envy. The problem seems to be lack of incentive for shoppers to walk down this arcade, the barber telling me that the best day of footfall is when the annual Newport Markets take place; the skin care team have a more optimistic outlook, arguing that there are regular market days when the arcade is much busier…

There have been numerous refurbishments of this arcade, so probably no ‘original’ features, but the basic structure is as it was in 1905. The walkway across the arcade on the upper floor has attractive ironwork with star features; there is a superb spiral staircase inside No 13 even today; and lots of vintage tiling both inside the shop units and at the entrance point to each shop.

Fennell’s signage still features above the shop front of the unit he occupied at the top end of the arcade, and there are beautiful decorated windows, both in the glass itself over Fennell’s old shop, and in the frames of the windows in the unit opposite.

Of all the 70 or so arcades in the UK visited so far, this has possibly more potential than any other, especially given the monies invested only recently. It just needs some enterprising, visionary individuals to move in and promote the place: perhaps artists or more of the beauty industry businesses you see in many independent arcades like this elsewhere in the UK. If I only lived a little closer to South Wales…

My pick of the arcade’s past

Built by Edgar Fennell, a fishmonger, in 1869, and at first called Fennell’s Arcade. The arcade underwent a complete overhaul and rebuild towards the end of the 19^th century.

In 1913, two 8-year-old boys used a piece of iron to smash the sweetshop window in the arcade, and ran off with a box of chocolates and seven pounds of sweets. Their fathers were sentenced for ‘neglect’ and had to either pay a little over a guinea fine or serve a week in prison.

Sidney Taylor was up before the magistrates in 1914 for displaying ‘indecent’ postcards in his arcade shop window and having his 16-year-old girl assistant sell them to customers. The magistrates found that the postcards were ‘vulgar and improper’ rather than indecent (which would have made them illegal), so the case was dismissed once the shopkeeper promised to stop selling them.

An unemployed man from Newcastle (upon Tyne) was caught after setting fire to a shop in the arcade in 1923. He put a lighted match through the letter box of No 4, setting fire to a curtain in the process. When arrested he said: “I felt miserable. It’s nearly driving me daft walking about the country looking for work.”

A ‘Friendship Introduction Bureau,’ basically a dating agency, opened in the arcade chambers upstairs in the late 1950s. By the mid-1960s the owner had switched the name to a ‘Marriage Bureau.’

Sources for the above stories all www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk and specifically: 1) Western Mail, 1 May 1913 – Reach plc; 2) Western Mail, 14 February 1914 – Reach plc; 3) Western Mail, 6 March 1923, Reach plc.

What memories do you have of visits in years gone by?

Have you got any good stories to add on the past of this arcade?

What’s your favourite shop in the arcade today?

Have you seen this arcade in any films or books?

My favourite shop in the arcade

I love the new skincare shop, which has a fantastic range of products suitable for everybody so definitely not just a beauty-style shop. The barber is also a really friendly guy – I just don’t have much hair to cut, sadly…

Is there a website for this arcade?

No website as such, but unlike most other vintage arcades in the UK, Newport’s Market Arcade has its own Wikipedia page which tells more of its history and the tale of the more recent investment.